Harry Potter the Potions Mage
by holyruin
Summary: MA: Harry Potter was raised as a part of the Dursley family. Knowing about the wizarding world from a young age, a very different Harry enters Hogwarts. This is the story of the creation of the worlds first Potions Mage. How will this Harry fair against the upcoming struggles. Read and find out! MA: for Language, Violence and Adult content. Harry-Multi, HP HG DG FD
1. Chapter 1

Author's note: This story idea came to me while listening to Harry Potter and the Philosopher's stone audiobook on audible. I am certain that this idea has been done before. Though I want to put my own spin on the idea! Hope you enjoy! This should be fun!

* * *

It was a perfectly normal morning, the birds were chirping, the sun was shining, or rather the sun was shining through the clouds. This is Little Whinging after all. The smell of fresh made coffee was in the air, and by the gods it was a weekend and Vernon could not wait to start his day. Things were quite normal on Privet Drive. Dull colored homes and full green lawns throughout, the HOA made sure of that. He was very grateful that Petunia convinced him that going the way of HOA was the way to go. None of those horrible yellow houses he saw in other neighborhoods. Vernon didn't know why but he has always hated the color yellow! Stretching he shuffled the covers and sheets off him. Sliding his legs off the bed he slipped on his favorite slippers. Haze grey in color. Walking over to the bathroom door he put his robe on promptly started his morning routine. Half way through brushing his teeth he heard it. Crying. It sounded like two babies crying? He must be hearing things he thought finishing his routine. The crying continued though. He was baffled, is there another baby in the house? He walked down the stairs and the crying seemed to intensify. He walked into the kitchen to see a nearing hysterical Petunia.

"Oh Vernon! What are we going to do!"

"Petunia? What is going on here."

"I found him on our front porch! He was just laying there Vernon, Just laying there!" She wailed.

"Laying there? Who just leaves a baby out front of a stranger's house?"

"That's the worst part! It's Lilly's!"

"Lilly's?" He said "What do you mean?"

"There was a letter! It said she and James died! Now we are to take care of Harry."

"We are to what now? Another baby? Petunia how are we going to manage that? Dudley is a handful all on his own!"

"I know Vernon but what are we to do? We can't just get rid of him!" She wailed again.

"Well we certainly could, there is always an orphanage." He sighed out not liking the words as he said them.

"We most certainly will not! How could you! Little Harry is blood!" She yelled angrily.

"Now now there is no need to shout. We can handle this. Wait.. did you say blood? I thought you hated your sister? Because wasn't she one of those… those things?" Vernon said in confusion?

"Gah I know, but she was still my sister! And now she is gone! I spent all those years hating her. Just all that seems so pointless now. I feel so terrible, I should have at least tried to be there for her. But I just couldn't!" She said beginning to cry.

"Now now dear it's alright, we can keep him around." Vernon said rounding the kitchen table on which the two children lay. Looks like Petunia was about to feed Dudley he thought.

Vernon held out his arms and Petunia crashed into them, crying harder than he had ever seen her cry. Even at her mother's funeral she was not so broken up. Holding and consoling his wife he glanced over at the child. Harry huh. He thought. Looking at him for the first time he noticed the glaring unsettling green eyes the boy had. Seemed like old eyes to him. Like the eyes of someone who had seen too much. Certainly too much for one so young. Then he noticed the strange scar on his head. What could that thing be? The boy had an odd air about him, but maybe that was just the circumstances in which his household now found itself.

"It's okay dear, it's okay everything will be alright. I know you cared for your sister, even if you didn't know how to show it." He said comfortingly.

"No!" She pushed away from him. "No I didn't Vernon I did not care! But I should have! What kind of monster am I?"

"You are no monster dear, it is completely understandable that you had these problems with your sister considering all that happened." He said trying to sooth her.

"No no no no no I see it now! I am horrible, I am the worst! I mean I didn't even try to contact her when mother died. I left her out of our mothers funeral! How could anyone be so awful, I just.. I just can't believe I have been this horrible! I try and I try and I try to be the best wife to you, and friendly in the neighborhood, and until a few mintues ago I was focused entirely on being the best mother I could be to our little Dudley!" She half yelled deflating a small amount at a time.

"What are you saying dear?" Vernon asked in true confusion.

"What I am saying is that it stops here. It all stops here. We are taking this baby in. We are bringing him into this family. We will! Love him! We will care for him! He is all I have connecting me to Mum, Dad and now Lily. That is that Vernon, no more talk of orphanages. We will raise him as our own! He will have a wonderful life and that is final!" She said with conviction.

"Okay dear, we will, but what do we do if he is like them? What do we do then?" He asked?

"We will do what I should have done all those years ago. We will accept him." She said with an finality.

Taking the few steps their were from her to the kitchen table she picked up baby Harry.

"You hear that Harry, you are ours now. And we will love you." She said smiling. Tears falling from her face.

At that moment Vernon and Petunia felt an odd shivering, and everything in the house seem a little bit brighter.

* * *

The day was finally here.

Harry had known about this day for years now. Ever since that rainy night Uncle V and Mam told him about what happened all those years ago.

* * *

Harry walked up the front drive with his umbrella shielding him from the frigid rain. Normally Harry enjoyed the rain, he felt there was something pure about it. Like the world was washed clean whenever it rained. And the smell! He loved the smell of rain, it just smelled so fresh. Normally rainy days were his favorite. Today they were not. At school today his teacher called in sick, so there was a substitute. She was a young pretty woman, with long black hair and blue eyes. At the beginning of class she thought it would be nice as an introduction to tell her a little about themselves. So she asked the class to talk about their loved ones. Every kid in the class spoke about their parents. Going alphabetically Harry was near the last person in the class to talk about his loved ones. Meaning Dudley talked about Uncle V and Mam before him.

"Harry Potter! You are next! Tell us a little about your loved ones, and remember it can be about your parents or anyone else you can think of." She said brightly.

Harry was quiet for a few moments. Dudley saw him struggling and stood up.

"Harry just talk about Mum and Dad!" He said trying to be helpful.

"Mum and Dad, Harry said quietly. "Well I don't know my Mum and Dad." He said quietly. "They didn't want me." He said even quieter tearing up. "I was raised by my Aunt and Uncle, Dudley's parents. They have been wonderful to me, always caring and helping with homework, and every weekend Uncle V takes us to movies! I do love the movies!" He finished awkwardly and sat down.

Tearing up herself, the substitute teacher dismissed the class to recess. A cover for her to run to the office and call the Dursleys, warning them of the interaction as a heads up that Harry may have some tough questions for them soon.

It was raining when Harry got off the bus with Dudley on Privet Drive. Dudley rushed home to catch his shows on the telly. But today Harry took his time. He kept thinking back to the question today in class. Wondering why his parents left him. Why they didn't love him. If they had loved him they would have kept him right? Dragging his feet he was not enjoying the rain as he usually did. Walking up the drive he saw that Uncle V's car was in the port? What was he doing home? He is normally home around 5:30 it's only 3:00. Opening the front door harry folded up his umbrella and shook off the excess water. Taking off his rain jacket and boots he left them in the front closet to dry off. Stepping into the living room he saw dudley sitting in his usual spot waiting eagerly for his shows to come on. Walking into the kitchen he saw Uncle V and Mam sitting at the kitchen table with his favorite snack, cut up celery and peanut butter! Today is getting better he thought.

"Harry dear sit down." Petunia said softly.

Harry complied grabbing a stick of celery and chomping down on it. He loved the crunch it made!

"Harry dear we got a phone call today from your teacher at school." Petunia said softly.

"Substitute Mam, she was a substitute. She was nice." Harry said happily munching away.

"She told us what you said about your parents." Vernon said cautiously.

"She said you think they hated you." He finished.

"Well they do don't they? Why else would they never come to see me?" Harry asked with the honesty and bluntness only achievable by a child.

"Oh Harry it is much more complicated than that, but let me tell you one thing, your parents loved you very much, yes they did." Petunia said choking up.

"Loved?" Harry said. "See you said loved, as in they don't any more".

"No no it's not like that Harry, this is very difficult, Vernon and I have been wondering when you would ask or when we would tell you. We are sorry it took this long, we never meant for you to think that your parents hated you."

"Yes son your parents loved you very much, and like your Aunt is saying, it is a very difficult subject so we think it's best to just put it out there and answer any questions you have." Vernon said, knowing they would tell harry a censored version, he is only 7 years old after all.

"Harry your parents died protecting you, they loved you from the moment you were born until their last breath and they still do wherever they are dear." Petunia choked out wiping away a tear.

"My parents are dead?" Harry asked eyes wide.

"Yes dear they died protecting you."

"Protecting me from what?" Harry asked.

"A bad man broke into your house and they protected you from him." Vernon said feeling a tightening in his chest.

"So they didn't hate me?" Harry asked eyes wide.

"No they loved you very very much, and as terrible as all of this is Harry know that you are a blessing to us. That we love you very much as well." Petunia said.

"There is another thing that we wanted to talk to you about son." Vernon said. "Your parents were different from everyone else Harry."

"Different how?" Harry asked curious.

"Well Harry, they were able to do things that the rest of us can't." Vernon said feeling a little excitement. His views on the subject have changed immensely over the years.

"Like what?" Harry asked bluntly.

"Magic, your parents could do magic." Vernon said.

"Like pulling rabbits out of hats? That is so cool! I love seeing that on the telly!" Harry said excitedly.

"No Harry much much more than that. And this weekend we are going to take a trip and show you!" Petunia said smiling.

"Show me! That sounds awesome! But why? Harry asked.

"Because Harry we think you are going to be just like them!" Vernon said.

"Really!" Harry yelled.

"Yes really! Now finish up your celery we have some arranging to do so we can take this trip." Petunia said.

As Harry ran from the room with excitement Vernon turned to his wife. "That went much better than I thought." He said honestly.

"Yes well that is why we have practiced it a few times." Petunia said looking at her husband with love.

"Very good, I am glad that is over though." Vernon sighed.

"We knew the day would come. Now I wonder." She said while looking at the kitchen window expectantly. Every time they talked about the wizarding world and had questions an owl showed up at their kitchen window. As if it knew. At first this seemed very odd but in these last 7 years it has become more of a comfort. How would they possibly raise and deal with a child like Harry with no help.

Reaching for the window Petunia jumped as she heard a tapping on the glass. "Damn, that gets me every time. Even though I expect it." She said exasperated.

Vernon laughed and helped the owl inside, they promptly wrote the letter asking how to show Harry the wizarding world, now that he knew he was different from the rest of us. That Dumbledore was ever so helpful.

* * *

That was the day Harry first heard of real magic. What followed was a wonderful trip to Diagon Alley where he found out he had quite a bit of money left to him from his parents. How much he did not know but the funny looking green guy said it was plenty. So taking a little money Harry picked up a few things through the alley, He went ahead and purchased the 1st year books from the list posted in Flourish & Blotts. As well as a few extras on potions, they seemed particularly interesting to him. He was very disappointed to find that he could not get a wand today. But understood that he will be able to come back after his 11th birthday to purchase one. He could not wait!

From the young age of 7 Harry began his journey into mastering this new world. And Oh how wonderful it is!

Thank you for reading! I am Approaching this with a completely different feel to what I was writing before. I hope you enjoy! More to come!

Next Chapter.

The Letter, Another memorable trip to Diagon ally and meeting some new friends!

I am in need of a Beta reader! If you are willing to help me out there. Please feel free to message me! Thank you agian!


	2. Chapter 2

A.N. Sorry for the wait, busy busy week, what a response though! I am glad you all are enjoying this take on the story! I hope you keep reading! Anyways Onward!

Also if you are a beta reader, I need you. Lol

* * *

"Wake up Harry!" Dudley yelled!

Harry opened his eyes. "Duds, what..what time is it?" Harry blearily spoke.

"Oh never mind the time! Today is the day Harry! You should be getting your letter any time now!" Dudley, affectionately called Duds by Harry.

"No seriously Duds, what time is it?" Harry said a little annoyed.

"Half Past one!"

"Half past one what? In the morning?"

"Yes in the morning! Come on how can you sleep, I couldn't even sleep!"

"Duds I am excited for this letter, but come on, sleep is so good."

"Pssssh sleep later Harry! The letter! The letter! It's got to be on it's way. How do you

think it's going to get here?" He said excitedly grabbing Harry by the arm and starting to drag him out of bed.

"Nu don wanna!" Harry said shoving his face into his pillow.

"Harrrrrrrrrry! Cooooooooome onnnnnnnnnn!"

"Ger off Duds!" Harry said struggling to stay in the warm bed.

"No! Come! Letter! Now!"

"Gah! Fine we'll go downstairs, but I call the Lounge chair." Harry said giving into his

fate.

"Yes!" Dudley cried out rushing out of the room.

Stretching after getting out of bed Harry yawned "Well as annoying as he can be, I will miss him when i'm off." Harry said to himself. Grabbing his glasses off the night table Harry put on his slippers, with one last longing look at his bed, he stepped into the hallway and shuffled down stairs.

* * *

Beep Beep Beep Beep Beep Beep Beep Beep

* * *

"Gah, damn new alarm clock." Vernon grumbled. "Petunia, it's time to get up." He said as he rolled over to turn off the alarm. 7am

Yawning Vernon got out of bed and put on his slippers. Stretching out he thought about how nice it was waking up at 7am, he was normally up at 5 to get ready for the day. But today was a special day, he took the day off just to be here. Excited to see his Harry get the famed letter. He thought back to that day walking into the kitchen seeing Petunia a mess holding a very different letter. What a wonderful few short years it had been, already 11! Wow how the time flys. After his and Petunia's decision that night every day seemed better than the last. Yes there were sad days. When the boys were just 9 years old they suited up and stood for their first funeral, Aunt Marge passed quite suddenly, though it was not much of a surprise. She didn't take care of herself after all. Though it was not long ago that he was also taking very little care of himself. Sighing contently with how things had changed since that boy showed up. It was not long after little Harry blessed the house with what Vernon can only say was happiness that he cleaned up his health. Eating healthier and exercising often he quickly shed his extra pounds. He honestly has never felt better. Once Dudley and Harry were old enough to understand the importance of living healthy he decided to take a very active role in his children's health and fitness. Quite often they would come out with him for walks, and he rarely hears them ask for fast food any more. Rubbing his mustache a little he decided to change things up a little this morning, he had been thinking about this style for a while. With one last shake on Petunia's shoulder to make sure she was awake, he went into the bathroom to set up his new style.

"Handlebars?" Petunia asked amused as Vernon stepped out of the bathroom. Striking a pose he said "You like?".

"I'm not sure" She laughed, "it's different".

"Well yea it's different but I think it looks smashing"! He said wiggling his eyebrows.

"Okay scruff let's get down stairs, the boys are probably beside themselves." She laughed again.

Vernon really did love Petunia. She had also taken a liking to the healthy living. She has never looked better, though she likes to keep her hair shorter now, just above her shoulders. Its not that he didn't like it. Though whenever he thought about her, in his mind she still had her long hair. He must say though, she also looks "Smashing". He chuckled to himself. Her eyes always seemed so full of life. Those boys really did bring a warm feeling to the whole house. Stepping off the last stair he took in a deep breathe "Boooyys" he bellowed up at them. "Shhhh!" Petunia sounded, putting a finger to her lips pointing with her other hand to the couch and chair.

Both boys were sleeping, Dudley on the couch, both arms wrapped around a pillow, mouth wide open. Harry in the chair, foot rest up, head to the side with one slipper on his foot and the other upside down on the carpet. The morning news quietly showing on the TV. "Ill get the camera" Vernon said with joy. Petunia nodded and watched as he captured this memory. What a good moment. After the picture was taken she headed into the kitchen to make some breakfast, scrambled eggs and toast with sliced apples. As she finished setting the table she looked over to Vernon who was reading the paper sipping on his morning tea. "Would you go wake them?" She asked, Vernon complied. Stepping into the living room he roused Harry first. Shaking his shoulder

"Hey buddy, it's time to get up! You have a big day ahead of ya."

Grunting Harry opened his eyes. "Uncle V?" He said kind of confused. "Why am I sitting up?" He said trying to rub the sleep from his eyes instead his hands hit his glasses. "Whaa" He said more confused.

Vernon laughed and went over to wake up Dudley. "Hey big man you better learn to sleep with your mouth closed, spiders will crawl in there." Vernon said playfully.

"Yeah right dad." Dudley said rolling over.

"Well alright boy, I guess I will just have to eat your breakfast for you!" Vernon said smiling.

An audible grumble sounded. Dudley looked to his stomach. Harry laughed getting out of his chair. "That's only if he gets to your plate first Duds." Harry teased moving towards the kitchen. In moments Dudley was up and moving "Alright alright! Shesh!" Dudley grumbled.

Sitting down for breakfast the Dursleys and one very green eyed Potter happily munched away.

"Big day huh Harry". Vernon said as he picked up his plate to clear his spot.

"Yes sir, Duds and I were up pretty early hoping the letter would get here." Harry replied.

"Oh? How early?" Petunia questioned.

"Uhh around 1 am." Dudley said sheepishly.

"Ha, well no wonder you both were sawing logs in the living room." Vernon laughed.

"It's my fault Dudley said. I was too excited." He sounded regretful, knowing he would have slept better in his bed than on the couch.

"It's alright kids. It's a big day, we figured you two would be up all night." Petunia said knowingly.

"Well kids we have a bit of an exciting day planned!" Vernon said.

"What are we going to do today!" Dudley said happily.

Knock Knock Knock Knock

"Well there is part of the plan already! You two just wait here, your mother and I will be right back."

Vernon said walking out of the kitchen.

"Who do you think that is?" Harry asked.

"Dunno." Dudley said unhelpfully.

"Come out here boys!" Petunia said from the living room.

Clearing the table quickly Harry and Dudley stepped out into the living room to be greeted by their favorite friendly Giant.

"Heyo boys!" Hagrid said boomingly!

"Hagrid!" They both yelled running over to him, he scooped them up holding them easily.

"Gah Hagrid you are killing me!" Dudley said, and though he was over exaggerating, the threat was real, Hagrid was huge! And often didn't know his own strength when it came to hugs.

"Eh yea uh sorry bout tha'." Hagrid said sheepishly. "Is jus grea ta see ya boys again thas all." He said with a big smile and a little tear in his eye.

"Awh Hagrid ya big softy what's with the crying!" Harry teased.

"I ain cryin! There somethin in my eye is all." He said laughing.

"What are ya doin here Hagrid!" Dudley asked excitedly.

"Well officially Hogwarts business, I'm ere ta deliver yer letter Harry! Unofficially I am takin ya ta get yer wand!" He said with an even bigger smile!

"My wand! Finally! When do we go!" Harry said getting more and more excited!

"Right after you two clean off the kitchen table we will get going." Petunia mothered.

"Already done mom! Let's go!" Dudley said just as excited as Harry. He loved trips to Diagon alley, they had gone as a family with supervision of course, though they didn't know who was watching, but there was always a black cat somewhere in sight. Dudley particularly liked the ice cream in the alley.

"Well les get a goin!" Hagrid said crouching to get out the door. The family and a giant walked into the street, Hagrid held up his umbrella and like usual a loud pop occurred as the Knight Bus arrived!

"Stan!" Hagrid Bellowed as the doors to the great purple bus opened up.

"Hagrid! Where you all off to today!" Stan said, knowing what day it was.

"Diagon Alley please". Harry said politely.

"Ahh little Harry, my have you grown, what's it been 8 months since your last visit?" Stan asked.

"9". Harry replied quickly. He too loved Diagon Alley, and as great as it was to see Stan again, he just could not wait to get to the Alley and get his wand!

"Alright alright lets get you there then!" Stan said happily.

The family took their normal seats, they liked the top row. Well the boys liked the top row, Vernon still didn't know how the damn thing worked and it still made him a little nervous.

The Knight Bus as always tooke amazing turns and fit through places no vehicle should ever fit through as it wildly blasted through the streets all the way to the Leaky Cauldron. Which today seemed a little more crowded than usual as the group walked in.

"My word. Harry Potter." An old man said as he approached the group. Vernon immediately stepped up. "Can I help you Sir" Vernon said sternly. The man looked away from Harry to see the now imposing figure of Uncle V standing awfully close to the man. "Oh no no I do apologize, it's just not everyday you see a celebrity." The old man said as he started to back off.

"Yes well, we are just here to pick up some last minute things before the back to Hogwarts rush starts." Vernon said less sternly. As the group started to make their way to the back. Seeing how that encounter went, thankfully the remaining people in the pub looking to talk with Harry went back to their own business.

After entering Diagon Alley the group quickly made their way to Ollivanders. Even the Alley seemed a little more packed. It was common knowledge that this was the year the savior of the wizarding world would be coming to Hogwarts, and anyone that frequented Flourish and Blotts know the Birthday of the green eyed boy. So naturally the Alley had a few extra people looking to catch a glimpse of the one who defeated the Dark Lord.

Luckily their quick jaunt to Ollivanders was uninterrupted.

"Well Harry I ave got a few things ta do. So I will leave ya with yer family, I'll be back soon!" Hagrid said jovially, the giant always seemed to be in a fantastic mood. It was contagious.

"Isn't this exciting." Petunia said as they walked into the dusty shop.

"Actually mom this is a little creepy." Dudley said.

"Creepy you say?" A mystical voice said from behind them.

Turning quickly the group saw an old, wise, slightly crazy looking man standing behind them, though they had no idea how he had gotten there.

"You must be Mr. Ollivander." Harry said confidently with a slight smile.

"Why yes I am Mr. Potter. Here to get your wand I see, been waiting along time for this, Mr.

Potter, a long time indeed."

"Along time? What do you mean he is only 11!" Vernon said bewildered.

"Yes it has been only 11 years but it's not everyday that a Great wizard or witch walks into your shop. If I may say so, the world expects a lot from you Mr. Potter, why I don't remember the last time I was this excited for a wand fitting." Mr. Ollivander said his hair moving of its own accord.

"I hardly think that is appropriate Sir!" Petunia said sharply. "Laying that weight on a young mans shoulders."

"Oh you misunderstand Mam, I know Harry will be a great wizard. I can feel it. You see, you learn a great deal about potential when you are in this business, a great great deal." He said mysteriously.

"Yes well let's get on with it then." Vernon said having just about enough of the man's purposeful mystery, and Dudley was right, this place was giving him the creeps.

What followed was an hour and a half of trying wand after wand after wand, to no avail. The more time that went on, the more excited Mr. Ollivander seemed to get, and the crazier his hair got, if that was possible. "Yes, Yes, Yes you would be a tough one Mr. Potter, A tough one indeed! Lets see…. I wonder. Yes that may be it, that maaaay be it." He said. About 20 minutes into the ordeal the group had lost sight of whether the man was talking to them or himself. They strongly felt it was the later.

"This one! Try this one!" He seemed to float towards Harry with a box he held reverently.

Harry grabbed the wand and felt a rush of what he could only describe was raw power. He held his wand in the air and the room exploded in light , blinding white light. The event would be described later by many as one of the oddest things they had ever seen. Passers by hurried away, not sure what was going on, but wanting no part of it. It was as if the sun itself exploded forth from Harry's wand, such intense bright white light that the heat of it was felt in the street. When the light finally faded the occupants of the room other than Harry were all on the ground covering their heads.

"What, whaaa whaatt was that!" Dudley said recoving first of the group, rubbing the spots out of his eyes. The group had Mr. Ollivander to thank for their eyesight as he seemed to sense something was coming and tackled them all to the ground. Standing up they all took a look around Ollivanders once dirty store. Which now Glimmered and shone like it was brand new. Freshly polished wood, neat and tidy cases of wands, brighter lights, it was as if it was a new Ollivanders.

"Great Wizard indeed." Mr. Ollivander spoke with a smirk.

"Whats diffrent about this one Sir? Why did all of those not work?" Harry asked genuinly curious.

"The wand chooses the wizard Harry. That this wand chose you is very peculiar indeed." Mr. Ollivander said, explaining that the wand Harry held was the brother wand to the one that gave him that scar. Harry didn't know how he felt about that. On one had it was amazing that he had a wand, and just holding it made him feel amazing, filled with energy and life. Power.

After paying for the wand Harry and company made their way over to Harry's favorite shop. Flourish and Blotts. Though he was not there for the first year books, he had already read and studied them. He was here to continue feeding his collection, consisting of books on everything from Herbology to memoirs written by vampires. Harry loved books, this was another trait instilled in him over the years by the Dursleys, Harry had always been an outstanding student, even after finding out he would be attending Hogwarts he insisted on maintaining his muggle studies even picking up books to keep himself sharp on those subjects while he attends Hogwarts.

"Hello, yes I am looking for a copy of Hogwarts a History!" A young excited voice said from what sounded like the front of the store. Harry half heard it as he had his nose deep in a volume about Potions, which quickly became his favorite subject to study at home. Because unlike everything else, he could make potions at home without a wand! So needless to say, Harry became well practiced over the years. He heard a book drop close to him and it made him jump.

"Oh I'm sorry!" A cute little bushy haired girl said over a stack of books she was carrying.

"Not a problem, here let me help you." He said politely as he grabbed the book off the ground and taking most of the books from her stack.

"Whew thank you! I really am sorry you see my parents are muggles and we don't make it out this way very often so when I am here I take advantage and pick up as many books as they will let me have! Oh are you a first year? I am, or rather I will be, I am ever so excited to see the castle, do you think they will have a moat?" The girl said in what seemed like one breath.

Blinking Harry looked over at her, "Uh I don't think there is a moat." He said with a smile.

He helped her take her books up to the counter, setting them down, he wiped his forehead.

Her eyes got wide! "Oh you are Harry Potter! Oh wow!" She said amazed.

"Yes I am." He said laughing a little at her expression.

"Ohhh I am sorry, this is embarrassing I never introduced myself. I am Hermione Granger!" She said holding out her hand!

Taking her hand Harry smiled widely, "Hello Hermione Granger, I am Harry Potter, it is very nice to meet you, you are the first person my age I have met in this world."

"Really now?" Hermione said confused. "But you're Harry Potter?"

"Yes we established that." Harry said teasing. Hermione blushed a slight pink and slapped his shoulder.

"You know what I mean! You should have loads of friends! As we have established your arrre Harry Potter." She replied quickly. Harry enjoyed that, quick conversation has always been something he really liked. He admired wit and respected others that could keep up.

"Well you see I didn't grow up in the wizarding world, I grew up with Uncle V and Mam, oh and Duds they are over here." He motioned for her to look over, Vernon noticed them looking and walked over.

"Hello there, I am Vernon, Harry's Uncle!" Vernon introduced himself.

"I am Hermione Granger I am also going to be a first year at Hogwarts!" She replied.

"Oh quite good, are your parents around?" Vernon asked.

"Yes they are just there outside the door." She replied.

"Very good, I will go introduce myself." He said walking away.

"Well there we go." Harry said.

"What do you mean." She said.

"Well since I have no friends in this world and you are new to this world as well, why don't we be friends." Harry said bright eyed.

Hermione was taken aback, she had never had a friend before, she always strived to be the best in everything that she did and it pushed her away from the other students in muggle school. Overwhelmed a tear fell from her face, "Thank you, that would make me very happy." She said honestly.

Smiling Harry began to reply when Vernon walked back over, "Well kids, we have to get going, but don't worry we will be going to see a movie this coming Saturday."

Hermione could not remember the last time she had been so happy. She squealed and ran to her parents.

* * *

A.N. Thank you for reading I hope you enjoyed!

Next Chapter, A movie, a day in london, and the Hogwarts Express.


	3. Chapter 3

A.N. Hello everyone! Thank you for reading! And a special thanks to everyone who has reviewed! Still looking for a beta reader, so if you are one, don't be shy! This is a fun project of mine so far I am really enjoying it! I will be setting up a Poll on my author's page, about chapter length and time it takes to update. Right now I am updating around every 8 days, if you guys want more in depth chapters and longer chapters, obviously that will take a bit longer. What do you all think? Post your thoughts in a PM to me please! Thank you again for reading and here goes Chapter 3!

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Hermione was so excited! She was so excited in fact that when she got home from Diagon Alley she ran straight through the living room up the stairs into the hall and directly into her room! She was jumping for joy! A friend! She had never had a friend before! She could hardly contain herself. Not only did she have a friend but that friend was also a boy! She didn't quite know if she cared on whether or not he was a boy or if there was any significance to be gleaned off that fact. She didn't care! She had a friend! And! And and and! That friend was a celebrity! She had never met a celebrity before, she hoped she didn't make a fool of herself. Harry Potter! The Harry Potter! Wow she thought. She was dancing now! Dancing around her room without a care, this was another new thing, she did not make a habit of dancing about, but today was an exception she was just too excited not to! Her room was different than any other little girls room. If you walked into her room you would assume that it was the room of an adult! Gone were the normal posters and things on the wall, in their stead was a few nice pictures of the beach and ocean, Hermione loves the ocean! The room was set with a desk and some bookshelves! Packed to the brim with books on a wide variety of subjects! Hermione did love her books. In fact the only indicator that this was a room of a child was the size of the bed!

"Hermione dear." Her mother said smiling as she walked past the door, noticing her daughter dancing around her room… wait dancing? Since when does her little girl dance? She thought to herself.

Stopping abruptly with a burning blush on her face Hermione called back to her mother. "Yes mum?" she said trying to sound normal.

"Your Father brought in your things from the trip, he set them on the kitchen table. Go get them and find a home for them in your room please." Her mother said politely.

"Okay mum!" Hermione called back. Composing herself she walked downstairs grabbed her things and promptly returned to her room finding a place to put the new books on her already packed book shelf. I may need another book shelf she thought to herself. Putting these books away was going to be a bit of a chore, fitting anything on these shelves now was like doing a puzzle. She needed to start reorganising anyway, the Hogwarts Express leaves in a few days, so she better get to packing her extras. She already had all of her required materials packed into her new trunk. Which thankfully still had plenty of room! She switched from trying to put her new books on the shelf to neatly packing them in her trunk. Once finishing she sat down on her bed having calmed down from when she first got home she started thinking about how the classes were going to be at Hogwarts. Lots of homework? Do they even call it home work? I mean you just do it in your dormitory right? Ohhh I had better stop thinking about it, I will get myself all worked up again. Saturday Saturday Saturday. She thought. Movie night with Harry Potter and his family! She wondered what movie they were all going to go see. She stood up when she heard her mother call her down for dinner. "Coming mum!" And off she went.

Harry frowned. Standing in front of a mirror with his new robes on. There was nothing particularly wrong with the robes, he was just having a conundrum. Where is he to put his wand? In the pocket? The pocket was huge, but wouldn't it have a chance of breaking in there? What if he needed to put other things in his pockets? He didn't know. He stood frowning there for a little while until Petunia walked in.

"Oh Harry, whats wrong? Do they not fit?" She said motherly. Walking up to him putting her hand on his shoulder.

"No that's not it, it's just I don't know where to put my wand." He said showing a little of his frustration.

"Well doesn't it have some pockets?" She asked.

With a sigh Harry responded "Yes they do, but they are huuuge, and I just think that maybe it could break if I sit down wrong or bang it against something."

"Oh well what do you want to do?" Petunia said.

"I was thinking. These sleeves are pretty big don't ya think?" Harry asked holding his sleeve open for her to see.

"We can put a clasp in there if you would like dear."

"You think that will work?"

"No way to know unless we try give that here then."

Harry took off his robe and handed it to Petunia, she proceeded to get out her sewing machine and get to work. A few short minutes later she was done. "Here give this a try!" She said with a smile.

Harry grabbed the robe and threw it on, feeling around in his left sleeve he found the clasp and put the wand in it. Letting his arms fall to his side he started walking around. It felt good! He tried drawing his wand, he fumbled with it a few times but he started to get the hang of it, better practice he thought to himself.

"Well?"

"It's great Mam thank you!"

"You are very welcome dear! I will get to your others before you leave for the train!"

"Thanks Mam!"

"Are you excited for Saturday?"

"Absolutely!"

"What movie did you want to see?"

"I heard that the cheap seats are showing Star Wars!" He said excitedly!

"Star Wars! Haven't you seen that enough?" Petunia laughed.

"Uh No! You can't get sick of a Galaxy far far away Mam." Harry said exasperated. The family constantly teases him on his love for Star Wars. But how could you not love it! It is amazing! In fact his favorite shirt was a Star Wars shirt. He made sure to already pack that away in his trunk so that he would not forget it.

"It's getting late dear, you better get ready for bed, we have a few big days ahead of us!" She said lovingly.

"Sounds good!" Harry said shuffling off in his robe still taking his wand out and putting it away.

* * *

Saturday came and went quickly, and it was fantastic. Harry and the Dursleys met up with the Grangers in London for some before school shopping, picking up a few things like clothes and knick knacks. After finishing their shopping the group stopped off to get some pizza before the movie. Turns out that Hermione had never seen Star Wars! Which made Harry both very happy and very jealous at the same time. Happy because he is able to share something that he really enjoys, jealous because she was seeing it for the first time, and Harry remembered his first time watching the movie, he had never seen anything like it. He was very glad that she enjoyed it! The days seemed to slow down greatly as the world seemed to wait for the Hogwarts Express with just as much anticipation as Harry had. As the days went on Harry kept on doing his routine, which he started to establish years earlier. Wake up have some breakfast, go for a walk or some sort of exercise, chores then a heavy amount of reading. Often he would spend time reading and practising potions when he could with the ingredients he could get his hands on, so far he has made a few burn creams and house hold things that have proven very helpful. Harry often enjoyed talking to and feeding his beautiful owl Hagrid had gotten for him on his birthday, he named her Hedwig, she was a gorgeous snow owl with a larger than life personality. Harry had never had a pet before, but he knew there was something different about her. She spent most of her time during the day sleeping in his room, while at night he let her out to go hunting and spread her wings. He was very grateful to Hagrid for the wonderful gift.

* * *

Finally the day was here. September 1st! The day the Hogwarts Express takes off at 11 am for Hogsmeade station! The Dursley and Granger households unlike many households on this day, were very calm and ready. Harry sat down for breakfast two eggs and a grapefruit.

"Today's the day huh." Vernon said between bites.

"Yup!" Harry said finishing his eggs and starting on the grapefruit.

"You have everything all ready to go?" Petunia asked.

"Of course! I Have been ready for weeks!" Harry said excitedly.

"Well be sure to write us every now and then." Vernon said. Feeling a tightening in his chest. He was going to miss Harry very much. They all were.

The family finished up breakfasted and cleaned the table. Dudley was moving at a quick pace, he was almost as excited as Harry was for today!

"So ya have to walk through a pillar huh." Dudley asked, knowing the answer.

"Yup that's what they say! Can you come help me get my things Duds?" Harry asked.

"Of course!" With that both boys clambered up the stairs to grab Harry's things.

After bringing his things down the stairs the family packed into Vernon's car and they were off. Arriving at Kings Cross station with plenty of time they spot the Grangers walking up.

"Harry!" Hermione yelled waving her hands, over her push cart with her things.

"Hermione! How was the last few weeks?" Harry asked.

"Dreadful! Every day just drug on and on!" She sighed.

"Well today is the day!" Harry said with a smile. Happy to see his friend again. They hadn't seen each other since Star Wars!

While Harry and Hermione chatted the Dursleys and Hermione's parents hung back a few steps chatting about how much they are going to miss them and how its going to be odd around the house with them gone.

The group stopped before the pillar between platform 9 and 10. Harry walked up to Vernon and shook his hand, but Vernon was having none of that and pulled Harry into a big hug, he felt a few pops in his back after being lifted up. "Grah Uncle V come on we are in public!" Harry said feeling a little embarrassed. Vernon set Harry down and he turned to Dudley. "Duds!" Harry said with a smile.

"Now you have fun over there, and I know ma and da said to write when you can but you better write every week! I want to know all of what's going on. And I will tell you all about Smeltings when I can!

"I will Duds! Dunno about every week but I will try!" Harry said finally turning to Petunia who had tears in her eyes.

"Oh Harry how you have grown." She said hands over her mouth.

"Oh come here Mam." Harry said with a big smile and arms open wide. Petunia bent down and hugged Harry. "Now before this gets too hard you better get through that pilar unless you want us to take you back home." She half kidded, she really was going to miss Harry terribly, and with Dudley also going off to school the house was going to be so empty. The tears really started to fall now as she thought of that.

Pulling himself away from Petunia Harry's eyes shown a little swollen, grabbing his things he started walking towards the pillar, he turned around right before going through.

"I Love you guys!" Harry shouted, and the last thing he saw was Vernon hug Petunia while waving back. "We Love you too Harry!" He shouted back.

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A.N. Thank you all for reading! A little shorter of a chapter this time, sorry about that, want the train ride and the sorting to be the next chapter! I hope you all enjoyed! Thank you again!


	4. Chapter 4

A.N Once again thank you to everyone reading and a special thanks to the reviewers. We are picking up the pace this week, putting out an extra chapter, I have a little extra time on my hands! Let's get this ball rolling.

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Harry emerged on the other side of the platform still looking back to the other side. Her had never been away from home before, this was all a new feeling and as the sight of the Dursleys faded indicating he was on the Hogwarts Express side of the pillar, he felt a growing sense of despair, sadness clenched him, knowing he would not see his family until Christmas time, the train took a trip back to London during the winter months for Christmas break. Some children stayed in the castle during that time, usually to focus on studying or in some cases they were the children of the families who lost ones most dear to them, broken families, children that grew up without parents, some in orphanages. Harry was in the moment, in his own head thinking about how this time away was going to be both wonderful and sad, when suddenly he saw something coming through the pillar. Hermione was pushing her things through oblivious to the fact that Harry stood on the other side, too close to the entrance, Harry noticed too late and the two collided knocking them both to the ground and sprawling some of their things all about.

"Oh Harry, I didn't see you there, I am so sorry!" Hermione wailed embarrassed. Noticing that she had landed right on top of Harry.

"Gah, um it's okay Hermione just get off me please." Harry grunted feeling a little pain in his elbow where he had hit it on the concrete. Hermione quickly scrambled to her feet even more embarrassed after realizing she had landed right on top of Harry. "Oh I am such a klutz!" Hermione chided herself as Harry picked himself up off the ground.

"Don't worry about it Hermione, it's okay I was the one standing in front of the entrance, knowing full well you were going to come through at some point. I am sorry it really is my fault, here let me help you with your things." Harry said feeling a little embarrassed himself, but mostly feeling like a fool.

After gathering all of their things the duo took the time to really look at the platform. It was quite big, seemed a bit bigger than the others in the station, it was very clean, and as it was early there were not many students strewn about the platform. The majority of the students come closer to 11 a.m. when the train leaves, but Harry and Hermione had gotten here a little early so they could have their choice of seats.

The Hogwarts Express was marvelous, a giant machine colored a deep red, the engine was already running so big plumes were sprouting from the top of the train like you would see on TV. There seemed to be a lot of it, Hermione figured there was a spell of some sort on it, to create the amount that was spewing out. Grabbing their things they helped each other move their things onto the train.

"Shesh Hermione, I thought my trunk was heavy, what do you have in this thing, bowling balls?" Harry asked joking as they struggled to get the trunk up into the train.

"No….bowling balls…..just books!" She replied in between breaths, they had done it, gotten all of their things on the train, now it was time to find some open seating. The two set off to find the seats they wanted. The search ended quite soon, as most of the train was empty. They decided on a cart near the back. Plopping down they slumped into their seats, resting from the exertion.

"The good news is that our luggage is taken to the castle for us once we arrive." She said sounding relieved, and Harry was relieved too, he did not envy who ever had to take care of that chore. The two sat and chatted happily while they waited for the train to get moving, once the train got moving, Harry found his eyes growing heavy, he often found that in car rides he would fall asleep due to the motion, looked as if the same thing applied to train rides.

"Hey I think i'm going to catch a wink, can you keep an eye out for the candy trolley?" Harry asked with a yawn. Hermione had her nose in a book, and had for the past half an hour.

Hermione looked up at Harry and asked him to repeat himself. After Harry had, she said "Sweets? Harry you know that sweets are bad for you, I will have you know that my parents are both dentists, and they say that sweets are the fastest way to lose your teeth!"

"Yea yea, i have heard it from my dentist before, but they are supposed to have a few cool things on the trolley, like magic frogs and the like. I gotta see them Hermione! Please wake me up when it comes!" Harry said as he leaned his head on the window.

"Hmmph okay I will." Hermione said as she got back to her book.

Harry promptly fell asleep to the sounds of pages being turned and the constant drone of the train rolling down the tracks.

* * *

BOOM

The door to their cart slammed open, and in walked a skinny boy with blonde hair and a cocky air about him. Silhouetted by two boys that looked to be larger than was normal for their age, looking as if they were this stranger's body guards. "I hear Harry Potter is on the train, Have either of you seen him?"

Having just been woken up quite rudely by these people Harry made a quick decision not to play along. "Harry Potter is on the train?" Harry said feigning excitement, Hermione looked at him oddly, having shut her book. "No we have not seen him" Hermione played along. "What a year this will be, Harry Potter, wow!" Harry said continuing the charade.

"Yes well, ahem, if you see him let him know that Draco Malfoy is looking for him. I have some advice for him." The newly named Draco said in an annoyed tone. With that he turned around and left.

"Why didn't you tell him who you are?" Hermione asked once the door had closed and a reasonable amount of time had passed.

"I didn't much care for the way he barged in here, and I'm not always very reasonable when I wake up." Harry replied.

Hermione seemed to accept that.

"Did the Trolley pass by?" Harry asked while rubbing his eyes, he was up, may as well stay up.

"Not yet, it's only been about 30 minutes since you nodded off." Hermione said matter of factly.

"Well alright, time to get some reading in. What book are you reading?" He asked, genuinely curious.

"Hogwarts a History! This is my second time reading through it, it's quite fascinating, like did you know that they enchant the ceiling in the great hall to look like the sky?" Hermione said informatively.

"Hmmmm no I didn't. That's pretty cool!" Harry said meaning it, it was pretty cool.

"Do you know what house you will be in?" Hermione asked, closing her book and looking concerned.

"Haven't put much thought into it, I know that my parents were in Gryffindor so probably there, but Ravenclaw would not be a bad place either." Harry said honestly. "How about you?"

Hermione clutched her book to her chest, "I don't know!" She said looking a bit distraught.

"Well which one would you want to be in?" Harry asked.

"Well I think I would fit in most in Ravenclaw." She said still looking distraught.

"Why do you look like that is a problem?" Harry asked. "IS it a problem?"

"Yes Harry it is! What if we don't get in the same house? You are my first real friend! And if we go all this way only to end up in different houses, we would never get to see each other, and friends are supposed to see each other! In Hogwarts a History it says that the houses all eat separate! So we wouldn't even be able to eat at the same table!" She said looking worse and worse with every word.

"Hermione it's okay, I am sure we will be in the same house." He said deciding that he would do everything that he could to get put in the same house as Hermione, like she said, she was his first friend.

"Do you know how they choose which house we are going in?" Harry asked.

"Yes, it says in Hogwarts a History that we are lined up and called in front of everyone alphabetically. Then we sit down in a chair and they put a hat on our head, the hat chooses, its called the Sorting Hat." She said.

"A Hat picks where we are going for the time we are in Hogwarts?" Harry asked, half thinking he heard her wrong.

"Yup a hat." Hermione said.

"Well anyway like I said I am sure we will be put in the same house." Harry said with as much finality that he could. Not sure how he was going to pull this off. But hoping he had at least a little control over which house he was going in. wondering how a hat could possibly choose. Hmmmph must be magic, he thought, sarcastically.

"If you say so Harry." She said feeling unsure.

Knock Knock Knock

"Come in." Harry said.

The door opened to reveal a gangly red haired boy looking annoyed.

"Hi yea sorry, just checking around for a toad, have you seen one? Neville here being the dunder he is seems to have lost his." He said looking more and more annoyed. He obviously didn't want to be spending his time this way.

"Uh sorry no toad here." Hermione said politely.

"Oh okay well thanks." He said and began to close the door. Only to slide it open one more time.

"Oh and one more thing, have you seen Harry Potter? He is supposed to be on the train today." He said looking hopeful.

"Nope sorry no Harry Potter here." Harry responded quickly.

The red head seemed to deflate at this, "Okay thanks again." He said closing the door and carrying on presumably to search for a toad.

"Now why did you have to do that to him too?" Hermione asked.

"Already pretending not to be Harry, no reason to stop now." He said with a smile.

"Well what are you going to do if they ask you your name?" She asked laughing a little.

"I'll make something up!" Harry said.

"Well go on!" She said curious to see what he could come up with.

"How's Johnny England sound?" He said with a proud smirk.

"Johnny England…" Hermione said. "That's the best you could come up with?"

"As Johnny England I take offence to this!" Harry said crossing his arms and putting his nose in the air.

"Oh whatever Harry." Hermione said laughing out loud now.

"Who is this Harry fellow everyone keeps asking for." Harry continued his joke.

"Okay okay Johnny England, I am going to get back to reading, we still have a ways to go until we get to the station." Hermione said smiling.

"That sounds like a good idea." But just as Harry stood up to get into his things to find a good potions book there was another knock on the door.

"Bloody Hell! Who is it now!" Harry asked getting annoyed.

"Harry! Language!" Hermione chided.

"Johnny England!" Harry reminded.

"Come in!" Hermione called out.

This time it was the Trolley; Harry pulled out his money and started looking through the assorted candies, finally deciding on a few chocolate frogs and some licorice wands.

Sitting down after paying the lady, Harry opened up the first of his chocolate frogs. It took one giant leap towards the window but to no avail, Harry caught it midair. While munching on his candy he offered some to Hermione. She refused. So he kept munching away and found the first card in the box.

Newt Scamander, Author of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. World renowned Magi-Zoologist and know to dabble in Herbology. An expert in all things Magical Beasts he published his notes to help the magical world understand creatures instead of fearing them.

"Wow that's pretty cool!" Harry said aloud while finishing his first chocolate frog.

"What's cool?" Hermione asked.

"Oh well my first chocolate frog card just happened to be Newt Scamander, the author of one of the books we have for school.

"That is cool! Can I see it?" Hermione said.

"Of course." Harry said while handing it over to her.

"Whoa look at this, the picture moves!"

"Wait what!"

"Yea the picture moves, that is unbelievable." Hermione said with amazement.

"Oh wow that is awesome! I wonder if they all move." Harry said quickly opening another one.

Finding that his one was Albus Dumbledore and he was not even in the frame.

"Take a look at this one! It's Albus Dumbledore and the card is empty!" just as he was showing it to Hermione the card's Albus walked back into the frame and winked at the both of them.

"Whoa!" After a few minutes the wonder started to fade away and they both went back to doing what they were. Harry grabbed a potions book from his things, sat back down and started reading while chewing on a licorice wand. They spent most of the ride like this, reading and casually chatting back and forth. Until another knock on the door came, this time it was another red head but older with a P on his Hogwarts Robes. "Hello there, we will be arriving soon please go ahead and put on your Hogwarts robe, thank you!" He said and closed the door, presumably to carry the news to other carts.

Both Harry and Hermione took a few moments to throw their robes over what they were already wearing, Harry making sure that his wand was securely snapped into his left sleeve. Since his Aunt had sewn that in Harry had been practicing quickly taking his wand out and putting it back, over and over again until he could do it smoothly. For some reason Harry thought that that would be prudent. Though he did not know why.

The Hogwarts Express pulled quietly into the Hogsmeade station. Students began disembarking quickly, Harry and Hermione stepped off the train and heard a big voice shouting. "Firs years over ere!"

"That's Hagrid!" Harry said excitedly, he had not seen Hagrid since his birthday.

The two hurried over to Hagrid, they were one of the first so when Hagrid said "Harry my boy ow was tha las few weeks waitin ta get ere?" his cover was not blown.

"Boring I couldn't wait to come!" Harry replied. "Hagrid I think you are getting taller." He joked.

"Oh am I now." Hagrid said with a big belly laugh. "When everythin is settled down up at tha castle I'll sen an owl for ya ta come have a cuppa with me an fang." Hagrid said with a smile before yelling "Firs years over ere!"

Before long the first years had all assembled and they followed Hagrid to the boats next to the lake. Harry and Hermione got in the one that Hagrid was in, because if there was a boat that was going to make it across the water it would be the one the tour guide is in.

The ride across the water was beautiful, Harry leaned back dipping one hand in the water leaving little ripples in the water as he stared up into the sky, it had gotten quite dark, so the stars were out in full and it was a site that he would never forget as he looked down from the stars to see Hogwarts in all her glory. Though the castle was made of stone it looked warm and inviting to Harry and he could not wait to discover her secrets.

After the boat ride the children were taken up towards the doors to the great hall and lectured by Professor McGonagall about behaving during the sorting ceremony, the doors to the great hall opened shortly after Professor McGonagall walked away. The children made their way inside. Again Harry was hit with wonder as he took his first steps inside the great hall, the length of which was covered by giant house tables, filled already with all the other years of students, some looking interested in the proceedings others looking quite bored. Gryffindor table looked especially attentive along with the Hufflepuff table. At the head of all the tables, raised on a platform was the staff table, sitting at the table most notably was Albus Dumbledore, a greasy black haired man who did not look excited to be here and a squirrely looking man with a turban that looked much too large for him. Odd group Harry thought. The ceiling was indeed charmed to look like the night sky and occupying the empty space between the ceiling and the tables were floating candles of varying sizes scattered about at different heights and locations in a seemingly random array.

The children lined up and professor McGonagall explained how the sorting was to go and quite quickly the ceremony had begun. Harry stood with Hermione watching as student after student walked up to the Sorting Hat to have the hat scream out the house they were to be in. It was quite bizarre Harry thought, a hat with a mouth, and the song it sang beforehand? Harry just had no words for it. Slowly the line dwindled down until "Hermione Granger." Professor McGonagall yelled out. Hermione looked at Harry nervously. "Good luck! I'll see you at our table." Harry said reassuringly. She smiled back at him. "Thank you Harry." She replied and began walking up to the stool. She had not had the hat on for very long before Harry had his answer. "Gryffindor!" The hat bellowed out. Hermione got out of the chair and hurriedly made her way over to the Gryffindor table.; they were clapping and cheering, happy to have another amongst their ranks. Time continued to pass slowly until finally, "Harry Potter." Professor McGonagall shouted. The once jovial and loud great hall went dead silent. Harry took a deep breath, and stepped out towards the stool. Professor McGonagall smiled down at him as the hat was placed on his head.

'Hmmmm well what do we have here, Harry Potter eh, well let's see what we can do here, plenty of courage, plenty of loyalty, certainly smart enough for Ravenclaw, but that cunning, that ambition, you would do well in Slytherin.' A voice said inside Harry's head. 'Hat is that you talking to me now?' 'Who do you think it would be Harry Potter?' 'I guess I don't know I am new to magic after all.' 'Ah yes, well you would seem to fit in well with any of the houses.' 'I do have one in mind.' 'Yes well sadly students do not get to choose.' The hat responded then shouted out one word. The great hall erupted into sound.


	5. Chapter 5

A.N. Sorry about the cliffy, I just couldn't help myself. Thank you all for reading and again a special thanks to the reviewers! Onward and upward!

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"Gryffindor!" The Hat shouted and the Great Hall exploded in sound. Gryffindor table stood up, whooping and cheering. Some screaming "We got Potter!" Even the Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw were yelling and clapping, though the Slytherin table didn't seem to care much. Wonder what's with them Harry thought as he waved and smiled making his way to the Gryffindor table. Taking his seat next to Hermione Who looked to be almost in tears. The moment he sat down she grabbed him in a hug, realizing what she was doing she quickly pulled away and just grabbed his arm.

"Oh Harry I was so scared. I thought for sure you were going somewhere else, I don't know why I thought that, I was just so worried!" She said Looking at him with her big brown eyes.

"I know! The Hat had me worried, he was saying a lot about Slytherin, that would have been no good, I mean just look at them over there. They almost look like they are at a funeral." Harry Joked.

"Wait the Hat wanted to put you in Slytherin?" Hermione asked.

"Yes he said something about cunning and ambition, what did he say to you?" Harry asked.

"Well he was talking about Ravenclaw for a short while, but decided on Gryffindor in the end!" Hermione said excitedly.

"Well I'm glad everything worked out!" Harry said with a smile, together with the rest of the Gryffindors they watched as the remaining few 1st years were sent to their new houses. Once that was done the whole school stood and proceeded to sing the Hogwarts School song. Some of the first years knew the words but Harry and Hermione did not, so they just listened and tried to hum along with the rest, but that was showing to be increasingly difficult as pretty much everyone was singing the song with a different tune at a different tempo. Harry loved music but this was just hilarious, so as the song went on he found himself chuckling until finally that broke into an all out laugh. His laughing seemed contagious because after he began Hermione began and so did a few others, even breaking a few from the song. After some time the song finally ended with the Weasley twins singing last, they had chosen a funeral march theme to the song. What followed was a quick speech by the Hogwarts Headmaster Albus Dumbledore.

"Good evening and welcome for the first time to our new students! And of course a warm welcome back to our older students. Remember to enjoy your time here, let Hogwarts be a home away from home, discover your dreams and make lifelong friends! A friendly reminder, the list of prohibited items is hung outside of Mr. Flich's door. One last thing, This year the third floor corridor is off limits! Unless you wish to suffer a swift and terrible death. With that let's eat!" He finished his speech clapping his hands once and instantly the great hall tables were filled to the brim with food. There was everything from blood pudding (which Harry was not a fan of) to fried chicken.

"Swift and terrible death huh." Harry said to Hermione as he reached for filet of chicken from a passing platter.

"Sounds awful, I wonder what's going on up there." Hermione said absently as she looked for the mashed.

Hmmm Harry sounded taking his first bite.

"Oh no Harry don't even think about it, the year has barely started!" Hermione turned to Harry chiding him.

"I'm not thinking about it, I swear! It's just curious that's all." Harry said with his hands up and open in an I didn't do it pose. The two chatted for the remainder of the evening meal having finished before almost everyone else. When the feast was finished the food and table ware disappeared off the tables just as quickly as they had appeared. At this Albus Dumbledore stood again and informed the students once again to have a wonderful year and first years were to follow their houses prefect to their dorms!

The redhead who stopped by their cart on the train stood immediately after Dumbledore finished and called for the first years to group up! Once they had he led them on a winding path through hallways up staircases and through secret passages, as they walked along with the rest of the first years, the smaller redheaded boy hung back and started to walk next to Harry and Hermione.

"Hey I'm Ron Weasly! Why is it that you told me you hadn't seen Harry Potter back on the train?" He asked Harry.

"Oh yea sorry about that, you were not the first to ask around for me, and I figured it would be best if I just laid low, didn't want any more people coming around you see, I was trying to get a nap in." Harry responded casually. The newly named Ron seemed to accept that answer and strode along with them in silence as Harry and Hermione continued to talk.

"Well now how did you two meet?" He asked them both.

"We met in Diagon Alley." Harry again responded casually.

"Oh. well did you have a good summer before coming here? Mine was pretty boring, just doing chores and the like around the Burrow." Ron said trying to keep the conversation going.

"I couldn't wait to come here!" Hermione responded quickly!

"Huh." Ron grunted. "What about you Harry?" He asked seeming more interested in what Harry had to say than Hermione.

"I did, my family and I took some trips to Diagon Alley, and once we met Hermione here and her parents we decided to go see a movie, so we met up and watched Star Wars together, that and getting my wand were the biggest things that happened this summer." Harry responded.

"A movie? What's that?" Ron said as they continued to walk.

"That's right!" Hermione said, "Wizards don't have movie theaters so its not very likely that you would know what a movie is."

"So Harry what is a movie?" Ron asked.

By this time Harry had caught onto what Ron was doing and didn't like it one bit. So he decided on a short answer, hoping that would shut Ron up. "It's moving pictures with sound." Harry responded coldly.

"Oh." Ron said. Seeming to notice he had done something wrong. "Well I'll bet you are glad to finally be at Hogwarts huh! What with dealing with the muggle world for so long." He continued to try.

"Yes well, good meeting you Ron, if you don't mind Hermione and I have some things to talk about before we get to the dorm." Harry said, effectively ending the conversation, grabbing Hermione by the arm and slowing down so they were at the back of the group.

"Well that's just great." Harry said with frustration.

"What's wrong Harry?" Hermione asked.

"You can't tell? That Ron was clearly trying to get in good with me. Probably just because of my name. And on top of that he was trying to keep you out of the conversation. Didn't you notice he was not responding to you?" Harry asked seriously.

"Of course I noticed Harry." Hermione said quietly. "I am just used to that is all." She said hanging her head.

"Well not around here you won't be." Harry said with finality.

"Harry It's okay, you can't block out potential new friends just because they don't want to be friends with me." Hermione said earnestly almost pleadingly.

"I absolutely can and I will." Harry said firmly. "I will have not stand for someone treating you like you are not there.

"Harry..." Hermione said a little teary eyed. But whatever she was going to say was cut off as the group came to a stop in front of a large picture of a very fat woman. Who Percey informed them was called the Fat Lady. She was the entrance to the Gryffindor common room, and the password to enter was Courageous Heart. As Percy said the password the painting swung open and revealed a large room with huge couches and chairs, a massive crackling fireplace and plenty of room for activities. The group made their way into the common room. Percy explained that the staircases were what lead to the boys dormitory and the girls dormitory respectively, and that only the girls were allowed up the stairs into the boy's dormitory, if a boy tried to climb the girls stairs, the stairs would turn into a slide and send them right back down into the common room.

With that Percey sent the first years off to bed, to a few grumbles but everyone was pretty tired after their long day.

"Meet you here in the morning to go to breakfast." Hermione said to Harry with a big yawn.

"See you then! Have a good night." Harry replied and made his way up the stairs. He was the last into the first year dorm and found that he was between a boy named Seamus Finnigan and Ron Weasley. To his surprise his things were already in front of his bed. He walked up to his trunk and began rummaging around looking for his pajamas and a book to thumb through before bed.

"Studying already?" Ron asked as he climbed into bed.

"It's just some before bed reading, it helps me sleep." Harry responded quickly as he put his pajamas on and climbed into bed.

"What did ya think of the feast?" Ron asked.

"Goodnight Ron." Harry said as he closed his curtains around his bed.

"G'night." Ron responded a little put off. He had no idea why Harry wasn't taking a liking to him.

As Harry sat reading his book he thought about home. Missing the Dursleys very much, and thinking about how odd it was sleeping in a bed that was not his. Though the bed was unbelievably comfortable. He was excited to get a good start in the morning. Glad to be at Hogwarts finally Harry nodded off in his warm bed wondering how Hermione was doing.

Hermione climbed into her bed which she thought was way more comfortable than it looked. Having already put her pajamas on and grabbed Hogwarts a History for some night reading, she also thought of home. Missin her parents and wondering how they were doing. She knew they would keep themselves busy, but decided to send a letter home very soon anyway. She was also very glad to finally be at Hogwarts, unlike Harry she found out about being a witch just as she turned 11 years old. With much less time for the information to sink in she was still beside herself that this was happening, that she was going to learn magic tomorrow! With that she ended up staying up for another hour reading as she had worked herself up, but soon she nodded off to an unsettling dream. She was winding through the hallways of Hogwarts alone calling Harry's name as he seemed to be just out of earshot the whole time, as she took turn after turn she found herself lost until finally she made it to her classroom, only to be yelled at because she missed the entire class! Not a very good dream, not a very good dream at all.

September 2nd dawned as Autumn was settling in. The air was beginning to get chill and felt quite crisp when breathed in. Harry woke easily as the sun rose, he was quite excited to get his day going, he slipped out of bed and made his way to the washroom to do his morning routine, showering quickly he brushed his teeth, tried to mess with is ever growing hair and returned to his trunk where he got dressed and made his way down into the common room to wait for Hermione.

Hermione was already there in a chair reading a book.

"Good morning Hermione!" Harry said jovially. "I thought I was an early riser. Look at you! Already reading as my lazy bones climbs out of bed." He joked.

"Oh this is abnormal." Hermione responded. "Bad dream."

"Bad dream? Want to tell me about it?" Harry asked a little worried.

"It's stupid, I was lost in the hallways and missed my first class." Hermione said quickly a little embarrassed. They were the only two in the common room so early.

"Well that sounds like a dream that could come true." Harry poked at her while she was reading.

"Hey! No poking! And no that is one dream that will not come true!" Hermione said swatting his hand away.

"Why don't we go check out a bit of the castle before breakfast." Harry said.

"That sounds fine, just let me put my book up." Hermione responded as she got up from her chair and made her way to the stairs.

Harry yawned again and took a look out the window, the Hogwarts grounds were beautiful, Hagrid took very good care of them. It was obvious he took pride in it. Though as he looked out he saw an ominous looking forest. Hermione tapped him on the shoulder and he started.

"Shesh Hermione you got me there." Harry said with a smile.

"Sorry Harry! I didn't think I would startle you." She said.

"No problem, I was zoning out looking at the forest, what do you figure is in there?" Harry asked.

"Well Hogwarts a History says there are many things in there, including Centaurs!" She said excitedly.

"Centaurs! That is cool!" Harry responded as they made their way out of the common room into the hall.

"Other than the dream did you have a good night?" Harry asked.

"Yes I over heard though that Professor Snape is just awful." She responded.

"Awful you say. Hmmm, which one is he?" Harry asked.

"He is the potions master here at Hogwarts, and he hates Gryffindors." she said with a grimace.

"Hates Gryffindors, I wonder why. Well I am sure it will be fine, Potions is easily my favorite subject, I studied that the most over the last few years, because unlike magic I could actually make some potions at home legally." Harry said.

"That is so unfair, I only just found out I was a Witch, you already have such a head start." Hermione pouted as the rounded a corner.

"Me having a head start, think about the kids from wizarding families, they must be really well off, I'll bet they do great in class, just because they have been around magic their whole lives!" Harry said.

"Yes well that seems unfair too." Hermione said pouting more.

"You will do great Hermione, I know you will!" Harry said reassuringly.

The duo continued to chat while exploring the castle. Until finally they decided to make their way to the Great Hall for their first breakfast in Hogwarts. They arrived well before most people and found their seats quickly, as they sat down a spread of assorted breakfast foods appeared on the table in front of them. They ate while continuing to chat with each other and as they did the Great Hall filled up with students. By the time the rest of the students were finishing up their breakfasts Professor McGonagall was walking about handing out time sheets.

"Mr. Potter, Ms. Granger here are your time sheets. Today is a free day to explore the castle and get used to your surroundings, tomorrow class schedule will begin as normal." She said curtly.

"Thank you mam." Both Harry and Hermione responded.

Taking a look at their schedules they saw that tomorrow morning they had defense against the dark arts shortly after breakfast. As they stood up to continue their exploration efforts the plates again vanished from the table.

"That is fantastic." Harry said.

"What is?" Hermione responded.

"The plates, they just appear and disappear. It's wonderful, no washing dishes, that is my least favorite chore, you can't avoid getting little bits of food on your hands, and it just grosses me out." Harry said with a disgusted face.

"Oh it's not that bad!" Hermione teased.

They made their way around the school finding their respective class rooms, and taking a short walk outside, before lunch. It was a beautiful day. They quickly finished their lunch and made their way to the library, which they had found this morning before breakfast on their first exploration tour. They both found a nice book and sat down reading until dinner time. After dinner Harry and Hermione retired to the common room where again they picked up books and sat on the couch next to the fire.

"Missing home?" Harry asked as he closed his book and stretched.

Hermione heard him but held up a finger towards him as she finished a paragraph in her book, and marking her place.

"Yes I am." She said truthfully. "I know it's amazing being here, and that we are going to do some amazing things but I can't help but think my parents are sad, and that makes me sad." She continued.

"Yea I feel the same way, I am mostly worried about Dudley, he and I had some friends at school but not real friends, we mostly stuck around each other. Now he is off at Smeltings and I am worried he is not getting on well, I am lucky to have met you in Diagon Alley, so I had a friend coming here. But he does not, he is going somewhere new with no one he knows, I'll bet he is scared, though he would never admit it." Harry said looking at the ceiling.

"I am sure he will get on fine Harry." Hermione said reassuringly.

"Yes and I am sure your parents miss you but they are also happy for you, being here that is." Harry said back.

"Thanks Harry, I really am glad I met you in Flourish and Blotts." She said with a slight blush, though she had no idea why she was blushing.

Harry looked down from the ceiling with a smile, "I am very glad too." He responded.

Then he picked his book back up and started where he left off, Hermione followed in kind.

The night drew on and before the two knew it, it was time for bed. Saying goodnight to each other they made their way to their next morning was much like the first, but with a little more sleeping in. Harry met Hermione in the common room ready to go and they both took off for breakfast. After a quick breakfast they both went back to the dorms to get their things and took off for their very first class in Hogwarts. Sadly the class was run by Professor Quirrell, the man that was sitting at the head table on sorting day, with the turban around his head that was far too large. The subject is interesting enough Harry thought. But man was this teacher bad. He kept stuttering and changing pages back and forth, it was very hard to follow. It was as if the man had never taught a class before, he looked over at Hermione and saw that she had the same frustration written all over her face. Luckily the class ended quickly enough and they made their way into the hall.

"Well that was delightful." Harry said sarcastically.

"Wasn't it though." Hermione said equally sarcastically.

"How horribly disappointing, this is such an awesome topic and here we are getting taught by this man." Harry said letting some of his frustration show.

"I know! What a joke, I do hope he gets better over time, maybe he was just nervous. That can have a big effect on someone." She said giving him the benefit of the doubt. But Harry was not so hopeful.

Their next class went by very well Herbology! This class particularly interested Harry, as Herbology and Potions went hand in hand. After that they had History of Magic. Which was at least twice as dreadful as Defence Against the Dark Arts. Which was saying something. Again the two left a class feeling very underwhelmed. After Herbology was lunch which was fantastic as usual.

"This is not going well." Harry said quite disappointed.

"I know." Hermione said sadly moving her chips about on her plate.

"How can they get away with being that bad at teaching!" Harry said frustrated. "Not Herbology, Herbology was great, but those other two. They were like torture." He said.

"I know what you mean. They weren't very good were they. It's quite a shame. But on the bright side, Transfiguration is next! That is taught by Professor McGonagall! I am sure that will be much better." She said trying to cheer Harry up.

"Yes well we can only hope, there is nothing but up from here I suppose." Harry responded.

As they finished their lunches once again before most everyone they headed to their next class room. Upon walking in they saw on the desk a neat looking black cat. Harry walked up and petted the cat, and the cat allowed it. As he was petting it he took a good look at it's face.

"Hey Hermione, come here." He said, Hermione had just set her things down. "You see that? It looks like glasses around the cat's eyes. I must be seeing things right?" Harry said, taking his own glasses off and cleaning them off then taking another look.

"You're right, they do look like glasses Harry." She replied.

"And another thing, when my family and I went to Diagon Alley while I was growing up there was always this black cat some where in sight everywhere we went in the Alley." Harry said rubbing the back of his head. "Hmm must be a coincidence." He finished.

By now the rest of the students were making their way into the classroom. Harry and Hermione took their seats and waited with the rest of the class. As the time for the class to start came and went the door burst open and there was Ron breathing heavy, immediately spewing excuses until he realized there was no teacher hear, upon which he took a moment to breathe and began to go find a seat.

Just as he started to walk the cat jumped from the desk and transformed.

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A.N. Thank you all for reading! I am hoping to get another chapter out this week in short time! Thank you again!


	6. Chapter 6

A.N. Welcome back! Thanks for reading! And again a special thanks to the reviewers! Here we go again!

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To the amazement of everyone in the class the black cat leapt from the table and transformed into Professor McGonagall! The class took an almost simultaneous gasp and a few squeaks, one of which was from Ron who was now frozen in place he had his back turned to the desk so he did not see the transformation and froze simply from the gasps of the class. Having not heard the door to the class room open and close he thought he was in the clear so he relaxed and said "Blimey you all got me good there."

"Got you good indeed Mr. Weasley." Came a sharp voice from behind him. He knew it belonged to Professor McGonagall. "Oh P-Professor I didn't see you there."

"I should think not, with you being late and missing my demonstration. Now take a seat Mr. Weasley, and 5 points from Gryffindor!" She said with her No nonsense tone. "Now on to class! This is Transfiguration! The delicate art of turning one physical thing into another." With that Professor McGonagall walked over to the side of her desk, pointed her wand at it and it impossibly transformed into a pig.

"Transfiguration as I said is a very delicate subject, you can not force something into changing, it is more of a coaxing, a gentle suggestion as you weave your magic into what you are trying to transform while willing it to change into what you wish. Transfiguration goes from the mundane to the extraordinary. With today's lesson being more on the mundane spectrum while what I demonstrated at the start of class being in the more extraordinary spectrum. All of that being said, Transfiguration is one of the hardest subjects to master, and can be extremely dangerous, so anyone caught messing about, or not taking this seriously will be asked to leave and not return. Take note Mr. Weasley." Ron turned a very deep red at the mention and hung his head while muttering to himself. No one in the class felt sorry for him. He was late after all.

"With all of that in mind, today and for the foreseeable future we will be attempting to change a matchstick into a needle." Professor McGonagall said with finality, pointing her wand at the desk now pig, she transformed it back into her desk, pulled out her chair and waved her wand, a single match stick appeared in front of each student. She then instructed the class to begin.

Harry was frowning. It had been half an hour and all he had been able to do so far was make the match stick wiggle. Hermione's matchstick however was starting to look pointy.

"Hey sorry to interrupt." Harry said with an apologetic look on his face.

"Yes Harry? It's no trouble." Hermione responded.

"I was just wondering what you are doing differently than I am. I seem to only be able to make the match wiggle a bit." Harry said disappointed in himself.

"Oh Harry don't look like that, of course I will try to explain what I am doing." She replied.

"That would be great, how did you start?" Harry asked.

"Well first, I sat my wand down and looked at the matchstick, I mean really looked at it, to see if there were any flaws or anything, they must be made with magic because I didn't see any. Next I thought about the similarities between a matchstick and a needle. They are both the same size, depending on what type of needle you are thinking of. Next I thought of what I wanted to do first, and it seemed that making the match pointy first would be the easiest way, as the other end of the needle has an eye, and that would be more difficult I think. Then I think the most difficult part is going to be changing it to metal, but as you can see I am not there yet." Hermione said also seeming a little disappointed in herself.

"Wow thanks! I didn't think of it that way, I was just trying to change the whole thing at once! Ya know you are good at this, I'll bet you are able to turn into a cat in no time just like Professor McGonagall." Harry said.

"I don't know if I want to be a cat Harry. But bringing that up we should ask her what it is that she did. Then maybe look it up in the Library?" She said with a smile turning to Harry.

"Harry what's wrong!" Hermione said noticing the horrified look on Harry's face. He was just looking at his hand like he had done something horrible and couldn't believe it.

"H-H-H-Hermione… I… I pet her." Harry said turning his horrified face to her holding his hands in front of him.

Hermione couldn't help herself, it started out as a giggle. Then a chuckle then a laugh and finally she was laughing so hard she was crying. It was contagious, before long Harry was laughing right along with her and the class was looking at the both of them like they were crazy.

"Mr. Potter! Ms. Granger! Is there something you want to share with the class?" Professor McGonagall asked with a sharp look.

"Sorry Professor! My matchstick just did an interesting jig up here. But really you should come see what Hermione has done." Harry said calming his laughing. Professor McGonagall made her way to where they were sitting to take a look at what Hermione had accomplished.

"Oh look at this! I have not seen a student get this far on the first day in years!" She said with a little bit a pride in her voice. "10 points to Gryffindor!" She announced and returned to her desk. The rest of class went by smoothly with Harry finally getting his matchstick pointy like Hermione's. As the class ended Professor McGonagall awarded Gryffindor another 5 points for Harry accomplishing as much as Hermione. The duo made their way to Professor McGonagall.

"Can I help you two?" She said.

"Um yes! We were wondering what it was that you did at the beginning of class, Hermione and I would like to look up information on it in the Library." Harry said.

"Well this piece of transfiguration is extremely difficult, very advanced. A very few number of adult wizards ever accomplish it in their lifetime. It is a form of human transfiguration upon completion the witch or wizard that accomplishes it is an Animagus. We cover Theory of Animagus in third year but If you are interested I will gladly lend you some books on the subject as long as you promise not to try and do it." Professor McGonagall informed.

"That would be wonderful, thank you Professor, and of course Harry and I promise not to attempt the transformation, I mean we are just learning how to change a matchstick to a needle, we are most certainly not ready for this level of transfiguration." Hermione replied gratefully.

Walking out of the classroom with a few more books than they walked in with Harry turned to look at Hermione. "That was a lot easier than I thought it would be." He said taking a turn at the end of the corridor, after Transfiguration class was a long break so the duo decided to head to the library to get some studying done, they had charms tomorrow and they wanted to be ready for the class. Also thanks to Professor McGonagall they had a good amount of recreational studying they could do on Animagus! They were both quite excited to begin looking into it.

"Look here Harry, it says here that anyone can train to be an Animagus, but for most it is too difficult, unlike a hereditary skill like Metamorphmagus this is a learned skill. I figure that if we work hard enough at Transfiguration we could get this down relatively soon, we will have to talk to Professor McGonagall to see what she thinks, of course we won't be able to do it this year, might not even be able to do it next year, but maybe third year? What do you think Harry?" Hermione said.

"I think it's doable, though we would really have to work hard, it says in my book that if you mess this up things could end quite badly for you, doesn't say exactly what happens, just that its horrible." Harry Responded.

"This is quite exciting, I had no idea that this was possible, What would you want to be if you could choose?" Hermione said.

"You can't choose?" Harry replied questioning.

"Yes it says here that the witch or wizard can not choose the form with which they take, but that their personality is where the form comes from." She informed.

"Well that kinda sucks." Harry said a little put off.

"Oh don't be that way." Hermione said licking her thumb and turning the page in her book.

"You can't tell me that doesn't bum you out." Harry said with a huff.

"A little but the idea of being able to turn into an animal at all is so amazing that it kinda pushes that fact out of my mind." She replied with a sense of wonder in her voice.

"I suppose you are right, to answer your question, I don't really know, maybe a bird of some sort? I think flying would be fantastic, or a large cat? Something fast. Yea I really just want to be something fast." Harry said matter of factly.

Hermione smiled, "Yes flying would be so cool, or maybe something ferocious. Intimidating." She said with a glint in her eye.

"Ferocious? Why ferocious." Harry said with a laugh trying to imagine a big brown Hermione bear.

"I think that would be a great self defence thing. It says in this book that once you get the transformation down, you can do it any time, without a wand." She said.

"Without a wand you say. Hmmm well that is very cool." He replied.

The night went on like this, Harry and Hermione reading and discussing topics until it came time for dinner, for which they rushed down, they had not realized how hungry they were. After a great dinner and some laughs the two returned to the Gryffindor common room. Where they sat down in front of the fire. After another Half an hour of relaxing Harry stood up and stretched his arms out.

"Hey Hermione." He said.

"Yea Harry?" She replied.

"I was just wondering, tomorrow morning I am going for a jog around the castle grounds for around an hour. I am leaving here at 7 am. Would you like to come along?" He asked. Hopeful he didn't want to go alone, it was boring alone.

"Oh Harry, I uh I don't have any athletic clothes here." She said with a little slump. "I will send an Owl off and ask my parents for some."

"Okay cool! It's just so boring going alone." He replied.

"I am sure it is, but after I send the letter it shouldn't be long then I will join you." She had never really gotten into exercising, she was still quite young but it was not a bad time to start, her parents exercised together every morning before they went off to work, and told her every now and then how important it was. When she was growing up they had tried to get her into sports but every time they signed her up she would attend a practice or two and quit, the other kids were never very nice to her, the teams she would join tended to have a lot of other kids from her school, and they didn't like her very much. But with Harry she thought this could be fun! "Look at the time Harry we better get off to bed. Especially you if you are going out tomorrow morning still."

"You're right" Harry said with a yawn. "See you at breakfast! I will be there around 8:30 a.m."

"Goodnight Harry!" She called after him.

"Goodnight!" Harry said with a wave behind him as he started making his way to his dorm.

6:50 a.m. came quickly. Harry woke up a little early to get some of his normal morning stuff done before he took off for his morning exercise. It was chilly, Harry could see his breath when he got outside. He stretched out for a bit and took off at a casual pace, he was not going to try too hard just yet, he was not used to this weather, the Dursleys had a treadmill in their home so when it got chilly outside Harry normally just spent a little time on the treadmill and called it good. That put him off a little. He missed his family, and wondered how they were doing, he had only been here for a few days now and things were so different here than in the muggle world. He decided that he would write to them today during a break in classes. That was not an option here, so he needed to get used to this. The ground were beautiful, and the jog was no where near as boring as he thought it would be. There was just so much to look at. Harry was very happy he decided to come out this morning, and vowed he would do this much more often, he was very glad that Hermione would be joining him, for even though the scenery was amazing, it did not beat a good conversation during the jog. It made the time go by faster. As Harry was finishing up his jog and stretching out he heard a big voice calling to him.

"Wha ya doin out ere this early arry!" Hagrid boomed as he walked over to him. Harry had ended his jog not far from Hagrid's hut.

"Getting some morning exercise is all Hagrid. How are you?" Harry said with a big smile.

"Doin good arry, say when ya comin round to see the hut an have some tea?" He said.

"How does Friday sound? All I have is Potions and Charms in the morning, the afternoon is pretty clear." Harry replied.

"Good see ya then!" Hagrid said as he made his way back to his hut.

"Oi!" Harry shouted. "Do you mind if I bring Hermione?"

"Tha more tha betta arry!" He responded.

"Thanks Hagrid! See you then!" Harry said with a wave turning around and making his way back up to the Gryffindor common room. It took him a few minutes to get to the Fat Lady and the whole way up he saw people coming from and going to breakfast, all of them looking at him funny. He was sweating wearing a black pair of shoes with black sweatpants and red hoodie. It was pretty clear to Harry by the time he got in the shower and back out that the Wizarding world must not exercise much. But they live to be like 200 or something he thought and decided that he needed to look into that. After he got ready he made his way to the common room where he saw Hermione standing there waiting.

"How was your jog Harry?" She asked.

"Good but a bit cold." Harry said honestly. "Saw Hagrid, going to go see him at his hut friday afternoon, I asked if you could come with and he said you could."

"That sounds great!" She replied as they made their way to the portrait hole.

"How did you sleep?" Harry asked.

"Like a rock! I am so hungry. But I bet you are even more hungry! After that workout." She said smiling.

"Yea I am starving." Harry replied.

After breakfast the duo made their way to class, they had a full day ahead of them, first was some Herbology, then more Transfiguration, after that they had some lunch then went straight to history of magic. Which they didn't understand, History of Magic was easily the most boring of all the classes, and to have it right after lunch when everyone is nice and full from a big meal seemed like a bad idea, most everyone just sleeps through it. Charms class was after, taught by Professor Flitwick, he was a tiny fellow with a huge personality and really loved to teach, so far this was Harry and Hermione's favorite class! The majority of the class time was spent discussing Charms and their uses. Near the end of class Professor Flitwick allowed everyone to give the levitation charm a try. Hermione of course got it on the first try.

"You make this stuff look easy." Harry said.

"You will get it Harry let me see what you are doing, I will see if I can help." She said with a smile. Harry quickly showed her what he was doing and after she began explaining that you needed to hold the sounds of the incantation differently. "OOOOOsaaaa no OHsah" She demonstrated. When she had finished demonstrating there was a loud bang from the back of the class, the both of them turned to look and saw that Ron had exploded his feather and his face was covered in black marks from the explosion. Shaking their heads they turned back to what they were doing.

"Okay so you think I was just saying it wrong?" Harry asked.

"Yup! You had the wand motion down just fine, give it a try this time saying it how I was." She said.

"Okay, here goes!" With that Harry said the incantation. As he finished he thought he had failed as the feather did not lift off the table. He sighed and took a look at his wand. Suddenly he heard a scream and looked up, to see that every table and empty chair in the room had begun floating. "Wow! Now that is what I am talking about!" Professor Flitwick shouted with glee! "Whose spell is this!" Hermione promptly pointed at Harry, Harry looked over at her with amazement, she had pride in her eyes. "See I knew you could do it." She whispered at him with a huge smile.

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A.N. Thanks for reading everyone! Hope you all enjoyed. Sorry for the late update, worked 8 12 hour shifts in the last 10 days :/


	7. Chapter 7

A.N. Thanks for reading! Again a huge thanks to those that reviewed! Let's do this!

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With a large amount of awe and 15 points for Gryffindor the class ended and everyone began packing up their things and making their way out.

"Mr. Potter!" Professor Flitwick squeaked as he made his way towards the duos desk. "That was the most fantastic display of magic I've ever seen from a first year! You show great promise here!"

"Thank you Professor, but without Hermione here I wouldn't have been able to do it!" Harry said with a sideways grin at Hermione.

"Now that's not true Harry!" Hermione said with a light punch and a laugh to his shoulder.

"Sure it is!" He said faking pain from the mock hit. "If you hadn't fixed my pronunciation then I would probably have ended up like Ron in the back with those scorch marks on his face." Harry joked.

"All of this aside, I would like the two of you to stay back after class tomorrow. While that was a fantastic display of magic, I have never seen anything like that on the first day. Which both worries and excites me! Anyway, on with you two, we will work out the details tomorrow!" Professor Flitwick said with visible excitement.

"Okay Professor." The two said simultaneously. They grabbed their things and stepped out the door.

"What do you think he wants with us?" Harry asked.

"I don't know, maybe he has more books for us like Professor McGonagall." Hermione said raising her shoulders.

"Or maybe he is going to teach us some awesome new charms!" Harry said with a giant grin.

"Maybe, He…" Hermione said but was cut off by a loud "Oi" from behind them.

Ron was rushing up to the two of them, it seemed he had stuck around after class waiting for them.

"How'd ya do that Harry! That was amazing!" He said with excitement.

"I don't know I just said it the way Hermione told me to." Harry responded with little care. The redhead was beginning to annoy him.

"Hmph." the redhead said, glancing at Hermione. "Well what did he keep you after class for?" He asked Harry.

"Well he kept us both after class Ron." Hermione said.

"I asked Harry." Ron said with a snap knocking her bag off her shoulder.

Harry came to a complete stop. Hermione had tears in her eyes. He bent down and picked her things up putting them back in the bag and handed it to her. "Hermione head on to the library I will meet you there, Ron and I have something to discuss." He said with a mean glint in his eye.

"Now Harry.." Hermione started with a sniffle.

"Don't worry I will be right behind you shortly." Harry said. Hermione nodded her head in affirmation and made her way quickly to the library.

Once Hermione was out of earshot Harry turned and looked at Ron.

"Whew I thought she would never leave. What a know it all. I mean have you seen her in class?" Ron said looking down the corridor after her shaking his head.

"I think you misunderstand why I sent her away." Harry said getting angrier and angrier with every word Ron spoke. Setting his things down he pushed Ron up against the wall, Ron hit his head on the stone with audible pain. Spilling his things on the ground.

"Wha what was that for!" Ron yelled struggling against Harry to no avail.

"No! You don't speak, I speak, you listen." Harry growled at him.

"Now I get it, it's pretty obvious, you are trying very hard to become my friend. I can see that, you are attempting to talk to me every chance you get. But that is simply not going to happen." Harry said shoving Ron against the wall again.

"Guh." Ron grunted "But why!" He said eyes starting to shine with tears.

"Because of how you treat my friend." Harry said.

"Her? Really?" Ron said.

"You must be stupid." Harry responded as he shoved him again. "I said, and this is the last time I will say it. This is because of how you treat my friend."

"What do ya mean! I was just trying to talk to you!" Ron said starting to panic, Harry had yet to let him away from the wall.

"Yes I can see that, but after this, I will no longer respond to you. I will no longer acknowledge you, even if we are in the same class, sitting at the same table, forced to pair up in a project, never. Do you understand." Harry said with one last push.

Ron grunted again, "What can I do to make this better Harry!"

"The first thing you can do is apologize to Hermione." Harry said letting Ron go from the wall.

"I will do that now." Ron said rubbing his head.

"No! Not now, you will not go to the library. You will wait until dinner, and you will apologize publicly." Harry said dusting off his robes.

"In front of everyone!" Ron said turning white.

"In front of everyone." Harry affirmed.

"That will make you my friend?" Ron asked hopefully.

"Absolutely not, that is just the right thing to do." Harry responded coldly, picking up his things and making his way down the corridor.

"Will we ever be friends!" Ron called after him.

"Maybe someday. But certainly not today." Harry said.

"Wait Harry! What else, what else can I do!" Ron shouted. His voice echoed in the corridor, but the only thing he heard in response was Harry's fading footsteps.

* * *

Harry made his way to the spot he and Hermione frequented in the library to find his one friend surrounded by a fort of books sniffling loudly. Madam Prince did not look amused. Grabbing a chair Harry pulled himself up next to Hermione.

"Your defences seem to have a flaw." He said smiling. "Normally there are four walls but you seem to have forgotten one."

Hermione looked up at him with red watery eyes but seemed to be fighting a grin. So Harry kept going.

"Now there is a thought!" Harry said wiping a tear from her face and showing it to her. "We can use these to make a moat!" That almost did it. She seemed to be having a harder time keeping that frown going. Harry jumped up and grabbed an owl bookend from a nearby bookshelf, sitting back down he held it sideways in one hand and making "boat on the water" motions with it. "Then we just need some alligators! Or Crocodiles! Then it would be almost perfect!" He said with a triumphant smile.

That did it, she was smiling again. Wiping her red eyes with her robe sleeve she looked at Harry.

"Bu..but that's an owl." She said shakily still smiling.

"It's all I saw, had to improvise." Harry said with a shrug.

With a sniffle Hermione leaned across the small gap between them grabbing him in a hug, burying her face in his shoulder. "Thank you Harry." She said muffled into his shoulder.

"What was that!" Harry said laughing. "I can't hear you!"

Raising her face from his shoulder she whispered "Thank you Harry."

The Duo took some time for studying and reading whatever they fancied as they waited for dinner. When dinner time rolled around. They made their way to the Great Hall. Harry wondered if Ron would do as he asked. Sitting down the food and plates popped up as usual and as usual everything looked and smelled fantastic. Just as Harry had filled his plate. He heard a loud "Huuuu Hemmmm".

Harry and Hermione looked up to see Ron standing on his seat. His face almost as red as his hair. Which was quite a feat.

"Excuse me everyone. I would like your attention." Ron Shouted.

The Great Hall became silent except for a few murmurs. With that Ron seemed to lose some nerve and looked over to where Harry and Hermione were sitting. He seems to steel himself and turned back to everyone. "Since I have gotten here I have not been kind to one particular classmate of mine. I just want to say, Hermione Granger, I am terribly sorry, I hope you can forgive me." He said looking right at Hermione. "Uhhh that's all, thanks." He said and sat back down, hanging his head, looking like he was trying to vanish.

After a few short moments the Great Hall returned to normalcy as everyone moved on from that odd display from a first year.

Hermione looked at Harry knowingly. "That was you wasn't it." She said looking embarrassed.

"Of course it was." Harry said standing up smiling at her. Harry walked over to where Ron was sitting and clapped his hand on his shoulder. Ron jumped in his seat.

"Ha..Harry! I thought you were not talking to me." he said.

"That took some guts, I am glad you did the right thing. I honestly didn't think you would." Harry said.

"Yea I just felt terrible, I spent the whole time from when you uh.. Talked to me till now thinking about what you said. You were right I was being a jerk, and knocking her stuff down like that, was not nice." He responded looking ashamed.

"I can see you mean that." Harry said.

"Does that mean?" Ron started looking hopeful.

"Not yet, that's a good start though Ron." Harry said and made his way back to his spot with Hermione.

"What was that about?" Hermione asked.

"Well I gave him some advice on how he could go about making what he did right, and he took it. So I went over to tell him that I approved." He responded.

"Well thank you again Harry." She said with another smile. She picked up her fork and paused. "He is not going to start hanging out with us is he?" She asked.

"Not yet, maybe someday." Harry said taking a bite of his food.

Hermione seemed to accept that and they finished up their dinner, again being some of the first done they made their way to the common room to relax and try to nap before their first Astronomy class.

Astronomy came and went without a fuss. Professor Sinistra seemed nice enough, and the topic was of course interesting! Who was not into space these days!

After the class ended the duo along with the rest of the class quickly made it back to their dorms for some much needed sleep.

* * *

Harry woke early again for his morning exercise which went well, he was still appreciating the scenery, it was much better than looking at house after house like he was used to back home. Once he was finished he returned to the castle for his morning routine. After breakfast was Potions and Harry was extremely excited about this. He loved potions, and he heard that Professor Snape was one of the best Potions masters in the world! But everyone other than he and Hermione seemed worried. Harry had heard the rumblings from the other students but did not quite believe them. After all, yes Snape had a perpetual scowl but there was no way all the rumours were true about him. Some were saying he was a vampire! Though Harry had not seen him outside the castle yet. So maybe that one was true? Harry didn't know. But he came prepared. He packed his bag with all the potions books he could fit, he planned on asking Professor Snape which authors he recommended. Hoping that maybe he would be as kind as Professor McGonagall and provide him with more material.

The class stood outside the door until it was exactly time to start. The door swung open wide and the students filed in. Snape immediately started in on a probably practiced speech, Harry couldn't help but smile.

"Potter! What are you smiling at, do you find something I said amusing!" Snape said with a lot more mirth than Harry was expecting.

Smile faltering Harry replied. "Uh no Sir, I just really love this subject."

"Really now, we shall see." Snape replied. After which he rattled off questions that no first year student would have known, and to everyone's surprise Harry answered all of them correctly. As he finished the impromptu quiz he looked over toward Hermione, she was looking proud. That made Harry smile again.

"5 Points from Gryffindor." Snape snarled, claiming that Harry must have cheated.

The class went on, and Harry was discouraged, this was his favourite subject and he thought that Snape may actually hate him. Luckily the first potion that the class was to brew was one that Harry had a good amount of practice making. He and Hermione paired up and made a perfect potion together for which Snape awarded them full points, though he did not seem happy about it. By Noon the class let out and Harry glumly made his way with Hermione towards lunch. One thing was sure, Harry was very much looking forward to Charms after lunch.

As the last of the class left the potions dungeon Professor Snape took another look at the potion Harry and Hermione made. Setting it down on his desk he made his way towards the door, as he opened the door he looked back at his desk, and with a look of disgust he said. "6 Points to Gryffindor."

* * *

A.N. Thank you for reading! Hope you enjoyed!


	8. Chapter 8

A.N. Hello! Thank you all for reading! And again special thanks to all the reviewers! Here we go again!

* * *

Harry's mood was dark. This was obvious, and it killed Hermione inside. It hurt seeing him like this. Honestly, she had never seen him like this. Here was Harry, the normally cheerful, know what to say, smart and healthy guy, shoveling mouthful after mouthful of chocolate pudding into his mouth. From the moment they had sat down Harry had not said a word, he just grabbed the whole bowl of pudding, which if we are being honest was massive, not so much a bowl as a bucket. Not even bothering to scoop some on his plate, just eating it straight. With the ladle and all, just one mouthful after the other. That would not be so bad, as First years are still quite young, these things happened, children overindulged in snacks every once in awhile. But not Harry. Even though Hermione had only known Harry for a short time she knew that something was terribly wrong, she had only ever seen him eat well. In fact, she could not remember him ever eating dessert. She began to say something when someone else beat her to it.

"Oi Harry! How's the pudding today!" Fred Weasley said with a laugh as he walked past to his normal seat around two table lengths away.

"Got any in there for us?" George Weasley said with an identical laugh also keeping up with his brother.

These comments earned them a sideways glare from Hermione when she turned back to Harry it looked like he had come out of his desert zone. He was staring horrified into the bucket, holding the ladle with revulsion.

"Hermione…." Harry said quietly with a scared voice. "How...How long have I been at this?"

"Since we sat down Harry." She replied carefully.

"Oh no." He said. Dropping the ladle into the bucket which made a viscous sound upon landing in the pudding.

"Do… Do you know? What this means…." Harry said with mounting horror.

"What Harry what's going on?" Hermione asked starting to feel a little panic rising in her. Again this was a first for her, she had also never seen Harry freak out. But she thought that was going to change, any second.

"I….I...I Have so… so.. Soooo much running to do this weekend." Harry finally said horror dissipating to a look and sound of regret.

"What?" Hermione asked. Confused, that was not the reaction she was suspecting.

"Running Hermione, I have a lot of running to do to make up for this. How could I do this! My weekend! It's shot!"

"Oh Harry, you run pretty much every day. This is not that big of a deal." Hermione tried reasoning.

"Oh, no. It's a big deal Hermione, a really big deal." Harry said with a far away look in his eyes.

"Come on it can't be that bad," Hermione said thinking this was going a bit far for just over doing it on pudding.

"No listen, the last time I had this amount of sweets was a few years ago, first time I met Hagrid actually," Harry explained taking off his glasses and cleaning some stray pudding that somehow got on them.

"It was my eighth birthday, and Uncle V and Mam said they had a surprise for me. We spent the day out in London, touring around, we went to the zoo. We had a blast. I thought the zoo was the surprise at the time. But no. It wasn't. We come home and inside the front door is the biggest man I had ever seen. Dudley screamed, thinking there was an intruder in the house, but once he had calmed down I got to chatting with Hagrid. Again thinking he was the surprise! A man that Knew my parents! I asked him all sorts of things, and it was wonderful! I had never heard any wizarding stories about my parents until then. Then it turns out! That he bought me a kids magic broom! Which again I thought was the surprise! But it wasn't! Again! By now I had already had an amazing day. When they opened the kitchen door. And inside was an array of sweets the likes of which I had never seen! Turns out Hagrid likes to bake! But be mindful, only every other one turned out edible, the rest were hard as a rock. Anyway by the end of the night I had eaten an enormous amount of sweets. I got hyper and jetted all around just being a pain. Meanwhile, Uncle V had had a large amount of fire whiskey that Hagrid brought out for the occasion. By the time I was crashing from the sugar Uncle V was good and toasted from the whiskey. And showed me something that I will never, ever forget." Harry sighed as he told the story.

"Well! What was it!" Hermione said eager to hear the rest of the story.

"It was just awful Hermione," Harry said.

"Come on! The suspense is killing me!" She replied.

"It was… a picture. But not just any picture. It was a picture of Uncle V at the beach." Harry said with a horrified face.

"That doesn't sound too bad," Hermione said.

"On it was not good," Harry said shaking his head.

"What do you mean?" Hermione asked.

"It was a picture of Uncle V at the beach before he started taking care of himself. Just big ole Uncle V in a Speedo!" Harry said finishing his story, the look on his face was like he was reliving the moment again in his mind. "And that's not the worst of it, he told me laughing that if I kept eating sweets this way, that I wouldn't look half as good in a speedo as he did at that time!"

By now Hermione was laughing, to Harry's chagrin.

"It's not funny Hermione! It really messed with me! Well anyway, the next morning he sat me down and talked to me about choices. How everything I do is a choice and how most choices have repercussions, whether they be good or bad. He explained to me that at the time of the picture he had been making a lot of bad choices, with money, health, fitness, and his home life. And all of that combined made him a very unhappy person, which led him to explain to me that being happy is what really matters in life. Not how much money you have or exactly how physically fit you are or how popular at school. He told me that once he had cleaned up his life that everything started to fall into place, that he was happy again because he was making good choices. Taking care of himself and his family!"

"Harry! That's amazing!" Hermione said. "Was that the surprise? Some father figure/son bonding time?" She asked.

"No!" Harry said.

"Well, what was!" Hermione said exasperatedly.

"Hagrid gave me the best gift I have ever been given, and that is saying something because Duds and I got all kinds of stuff, music video games the works. He gave me a handmade photo album of my parents! It is the most precious thing to me." Harry explained.

"Wow, that really is a good surprise! Sounds like quite the day!" Hermione said happy for 8-year-old Harry.

"Yes, it was awesome! Anyway, that lesson Uncle V taught me stuck with me. And that Hermione is why this weekend I am going to run. A lot." Harry said with conviction.

"Well I already owned my parents and my athletic clothes should be here soon! Hopefully, they get here soon!

Telling that story seemed to really motivate Harry, and helped get him out of his potions slump. With that, the two set off from the Great Hall to Charms class.

Charms class today was much of the same it had been last time, a lot of wand waving, mispronunciations and failed attempts to make their feathers float, that is all except Harry and Hermione. They had already completed this project and were spending time doing some self-study. By the end of class most everyone still had not completed the project and they went on their way. After charms was a long break. As everyone began to leave the classroom Harry and Hermione walked to the front to chat with Professor Flitwick.

"Ah yes, our meeting! Glad you two remembered! Now, Harry, I want to see you use that Charm again. Go ahead."

Harry did as he was told and this time, even more, things in the room started to float, chairs, tables, even Professor Flitwick's desk!

"Yes yes, very good, now I just wanted to see if what you did the other day was just a fluke. Now that we all know it was not we have something to discuss." The professor said.

Clearing his throat he began. "Harry, that level of power is astounding. I have never seen anything like it. But this is both an amazing thing and a terrifying thing."

"Why is that professor?" Hermione asked.

"Well you see, on one hand, it is amazing that you are showing this level of aptitude. Both of you completed the charm on the first day! That is unprecedented. But when it comes to Mister Potter here that may be a problem." He said seriously.

"A problem?" Harry asked.

"Yes, a problem Mister Potter. While this shows you have an astounding affinity to magic, this brings in a bit of danger, we have to work with this carefully, so as to not hurt you or other students, we need to work on control. The assignment was to make the feather float, not the class itself." He said with a chuckle.

"So for today, I want Harry here to keep doing the charm over and over. Remember control is what we are going for here. And you Ms. Granger, I have a large number of books that you may be interested in, to further in the both of your studies! While Ms. Granger here is looking through my collection. I must find a book that may help you, Mr. Potter. There must be other cases of wizards doing what you did, let's see what I have. With that Professor Flitwick turned to his office and opened the door. Come now let's see what I have got back here. You can start practicing after I have found some books for you both to benefit from!" He said.

With that, the duo followed Professor Flitwick into his office, which was actually just like a miniature library. You would think they had stepped into heaven. A private library! What a dream that was, both Harry and Hermione knew in the future they wanted private libraries of their own so they took a look around the room making note of how the professor had his set up. The walls were lined from floor to ceiling in bookshelves, and smack dab in the middle of the room was a sturdy wooden desk with a single lamp on it that shown bright enough that it filled the room with light. After looking around in awe, the children and professor went about finding books on the subject, Harry and Hermione searching for books of their fancy, and Professor Flitwick searching for a tome of magic control for Harry.

After Harry and Hermione had found a few books they wanted Professor Flitwick returned to them with a glum face.

"Seems I have nothing of the sort in my collection Mr. Potter, I will send an owl tonight to a few contacts that I have in search of such a book." He said with a disappointed face.

"That's okay Professor, I will just keep practicing and hopefully that will help!" Harry said, excited that he has more study material.

"Yes well, speaking of which, let's head back out to the classroom and I will let you get started on your practice." He said eyes brightening.

Harry spent the next few hours doing the spell over and over again, but unfortunately, he did not make much headway, though he felt quite a bit better using up all the energy he got from the pudding fiasco. All the while Hermione had dove headlong into her new books!

"Hmm yes, well children you best be off, dinner is about to start." Professor Flitwick said jovially, hiding the fact that worry was mounting inside him. He would talk to Professor Dumbledore about this right away.

After dinner, the duo made good on their promise and took off towards Hagrid's hut! Where they spent the evening laughing and telling stories while trying to fight off Fang, the overly attached overly large dog Hagrid loved so much. Harry told Hagrid all about the first few days, and about how excited he was for this weekends flying lesson, it had been postponed to tomorrow due to some urgent business Madame Hooch had to attend. Hagrid grinned and laughed at all the right parts, and told him not to worry about Snape, he would come around. But Harry was not so sure. Before they finished up Hagrid brought them out back to a shack he had built that mysteriously had been smoking constantly. He opened the door and excitedly showed them an egg he won in a card game. Harry and Hermione were not stupid, they had read about dragons and knew the risks. With a shared looked they decided to talk about it later. Before long Hagrid told them that it was about time they head up to the castle to get some rest, and Harry and Hermione agreed! They had a long day, and could not stop themselves from yawning. So they made their way back into the castle. By the time they were in the common room they both decided they would talk about the problem at hand, Hagrid's Dragon egg. Wishing each other goodnight the duo headed off to their dorms. Harry promptly fell asleep, charms instruction after class had really taken it out of him. Hermione, on the other hand, sat down and wrote a letter to Flourish and Blotts asking about books on magic control and where she could find them. After finishing her letter, Hermione put on her pajamas and with a sigh, drifted off to sleep. This was turning out to be an interesting first year.

* * *

A.N. Thank you all for reading! Hope you all enjoyed!


	9. Chapter 9

A.N: Hey people! Thank you again for reading! Another special thanks to all those who took the time to review! Quick note, periodically I will speed up timetables on certain events in the books. This is to cut out some waiting time and remove parts that will not be important to the later plot of this fanfiction. Some things that happen in the books will simply not happen in this fanfiction, others will be glossed over because the events in the books work well with what I have planned. Anyway! Let's get this rolling!

* * *

In the spirit of keeping his word, Harry woke early Saturday morning. He had a lot of running to do before this afternoon's flying lesson. Not that he needed it. Ever since he had received a kids broom as a gift he had spent plenty of time on it. He didn't think he was the best but he knew he could hold his own. Especially since the muggle born children have never used a broom before. Supposedly the first lesson was mostly about getting the broom to respond to you and work on some basic skills like controlled hovering. Harry figured he had that covered, so he was not looking forward to this afternoon's lesson. After a quick stretch, Harry made his way out onto the Hogwarts grounds. The plan was to start at 6 a.m. finish around 8:30 get back to the dorm rooms, quickly take a shower and get some breakfast before breakfast was over. He set himself a good pace, he had a long one ahead of him this morning. And really he didn't mind it. During this time he went over things he was studying, reciting facts in his head as he ran. As the sun rose over the lake he had gone through all of his subjects he started zoning, just enjoying the crisp morning air. Loving the feeling of the heat from the sun slowly start to bring the morning to life. As time passed his mind wandered to the dragon egg. He couldn't believe Hagrid got his hands on it. They were extremely rare, which was a good thing because dragons are obviously very dangerous creatures. He knew that if Hagrid kept the dragon he would most likely get into some serious trouble but he had no idea what to do about that. So he pushed that thought to the side, noting that he needed to talk with Hermione soon about this. Well at least before the egg hatched. As he continued his run he started thinking about his teachers. He was really enjoying a few of the classes so far. Notably, he was not enjoying Defence Against the Dark Arts. There was just something off about that teacher. He couldn't put his finger on it though, it was true that man constantly stuttered, that's not such an abnormal thing, though it was most certainly abnormal in a teacher. Teaching is a profession that relies heavily on one's ability to communicate topics and ideas with effectiveness, thoroughly and with ease, breaking it down so even the students who struggled to pick things up would be able to learn as well. It baffled Harry that Professor Quirrell got the job, people were talking, saying that the job was cursed. Harry was albeit a first year and new at Hogwarts but he felt that was a stretch. How could a whole job be cursed? He wasn't sure that it could be. It seemed so abstract. Maybe it was the room? Was the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom always in the same room? He didn't know. He supposed he would ask. But who? Maybe Professor McGonagall. With that his mind wandered to Transfiguration, the art seemed like it could be extremely useful, he wondered if Professor McGonagall had been teaching here for a long time. It seemed as much. She was a very good teacher. He had heard much about the Potions Professor before class and he turned out to be just as bad as everyone had said. Which was a huge disappointment. He loved Potions, there was one for everything it seemed! He knew one thing, he would not let a grumpy teacher does his fire for learning, his passion for potions. He would continue his self-study. He wondered what Headmaster Dumbledore did with his time. Harry had only seen the bearded wizard at dinner time, sitting up at the table. I wonder if he teaches anything for later years? He was the only wizard that looked the part. Just so old and wise looking, long beard and a mystical air about him. He fit the part of a Headmaster that was for sure.

"Harry!" he heard a voice shout as he passed by the entrance to the castle again. Stopping abruptly he turned towards the voice. It was Hermione.

"Morning Hermione!" He shouted back with a wave.

"Morning? Harry, it's Noon! I looked everywhere for you after breakfast, I had no idea you would still be out here! How long have you been out here!" Hermione asked walking up to him.

"Noon! What! I missed breakfast!" Harry said with shock. What was going on? He had never run for that long before.

"Yes! If you don't hurry up you will miss lunch too!" Hermione said exasperatedly.

"Whoa well, I'll be right back down!" Harry said as he jogged past her. "Wait for me! Flying lessons are at 1:30 right?" He asked as he opened the door looking back at Hermione it was quite a cool sight, the massive expanse of the Hogwarts grounds behind Hermione, so small in comparison.

"Yup! Hurry back down I'll wait at the table!" She said as she started making her way back inside.

Harry rushed through the castle. Hitting the common room in record time. He was done showering and getting ready in 10 minutes and back to the Great Hall with plenty of time for Lunch.

"Wow!" Harry said as he sat down. "I am starving!"

"I would hope so! You have been out since when again?" Hermione asked.

"6." Harry responded placing his fresh made sandwich on his plate.

"6?" She replied with shock. "Harry you should not be able to do that."

"What do you mean Hermione?" He replied between bites.

"Harry we are 11! There is no way you should be able to jog or run for 6 hours!" She said.

"Huh, you're right. That's the longest I have ever run by a long shot." Harry said not really thinking about it.

"Harry I don't think that this should be brushed off just like that. That is not normal!" She half yelled.

"It's okay Hermione, how's about we ask Professor Flitwick about it next time we have a meeting with him?" Harry suggested.

"Harry that is not until Wednesday!" She replied.

"I know! But tomorrow is Sunday, and I don't want to mess with his time off." Harry replied.

"I suppose so. But we can't forget. This is extremely odd, first the charms thing with the classroom! Now this crazy long run? Harry this is important." Hermione said with a look of worry on her face.

"Don't worry Hermione, I will make sure we remember, plus it's not like you forget anything," Harry responded with a smile. "Oh! There were a few things I was thinking about while out running. How long has Professor McGonagall been teaching? And I was also wondering what Headmaster Dumbledore did with his free time?" Harry asked.

"Hmm well I don't know off the top of my head, but later today after flying we can go get my copy of Hogwarts a History and check out what it has to say," Hermione responded.

With that, the two finished their lunch and took off for their first flying lesson at Hogwarts.

* * *

A shrill whistle sounded startling the children out of their nervous conversations.

"First years! I am Madam Hooch! Today marks a rite of passage. Today you will learn how to ride a broom! Now don't go expecting to be professionals on day one! Remember everyone take it slow! This is not a race! Now everyone please place your brooms on the ground to the side of you on your dominant side!" Madam Hooch instructed with a no-nonsense tone.

The class did as they were told. Some quickly, others like Neville Longbottom did so clumsily. Harry was already bored. Hermione, on the other hand, was watching with rapt attention waiting for further instruction.

"Good! Now place your dominant hand over the broom, noooo Neville don't bend over it just stand where you are and hold your hand out." Madam Hooch continued to instruct.

Neville was a shaky boy, Harry had noticed him struggling in most every subject, though from what he heard he was from a long line of prominent witches and wizards. This seemed odd to Harry, that a son of a known wizarding family would be so easily shaken, or have his nerves so easily tested. He made a mental note to talk to Neville on a later date, try to get to know him.

"Okay, now the next step is to just will your broom into your hand. It's okay if it does not jump right up to you right away."

With that, the class followed Madam Hooch's instructions and most of the class got it on their first go.

"Great job Hermione!" Harry praised with a smile at her.

"Oh most everyone did it Harry!" Hermione said a little embarrassed.

"Most everyone yes, but not everyone. Look over there." Harry said pointing.

Neville Longbottom looked at his broom with frustration, earnestly trying to will it into his hand but it seemed the broom did not want to move.

"That's great! Everyone who did not get the broom to their hands the first try, do not worry. It will certainly happen. For now, just pick it up." Madam Hooch said, and everyone did as they were told.

"Great! Now on my mark, I want you all to mount your brooms and give a slight push off the ground. Just to hover. Nothing more." She said.

Everyone in the class was able to accomplish this except again, Neville Longbottom.

"He seems to be having quite a bit of trouble," Harry said to Hermione.

"Yes I wonder why." Hermione mused.

"Good now back on the ground please!" Madam Hooch instructed.

Harry and the rest of the class got their feet back on the ground and Harry moved the broom to his left hand to hold it and wait. Just as he was turning to talk to Hermione again there was a loud yelp. The class turned almost at once to see Neville had finally gotten off the ground. Except now he was steadily rising faster and faster.

"MR. Longbottom get down here at once!" Madam Hooch yelled up at him. But he seemed to be unable to control the broom, this was increasingly more obvious as now the broom was shaking him around as if it wanted him off. Neville went from holding onto the broom with two hands to wrapping his arms around the broom holding for dear life. For a moment it seemed like that had worked. Like Neville had gotten control of the broom. This was not the case, just as everyone started to relax the broom to a nose dive, and Neville was screaming, the sound became louder and louder as he closed in closer and closer to the ground, this didn't look good. Madam Hooch seemed at a loss and the students stared in horror as Neville closed in on what could only be his death.

Harry was thinking fast, no one else seemed to be doing anything. Everyone staring dumb faced as the tragedy was unfolding in front of them. Harry didn't know what he could do. So he did the only thing that came to mind. As Neville's trip brought him feet from the ground Harry whipped out his wand from his sleeve and shouted the only spell he could think of.

"Wingardium Leviosa!" Harry shouted. Pouring his heart and soul into the words. Willing his magic to save Neville. Immediately it was as if the laws of nature no longer applied. The courtyard exploded in screams, as every single student in the class, their things, and the brooms lifted into the air. Even Madam Hooch was off the ground. Once everyone had stopped screaming they took a look around. He had done it. He had saved Neville. Along with everyone else Neville was now floating off the ground as if there was no gravity, still holding onto his broom for dear life. Everything was silent for a moment until the class broke out in cheers. Harry stood on the ground, the only one not affected by his spell. Harry stood staring at his classmates as they floated around. They looked ridiculous. Though Madam Hooch looked shocked and horribly upset at the same time. Seeing them all float around uncontrollably Harry let out a loud laugh. Then his world turned upside down, he thought for a moment that his spell had, in fact, affected him as well. That is until everything turned black.

* * *

A.N: Hope you all enjoyed! Thank you again!


	10. Chapter 10

A.N: Let's keep it going! Thank you all for reading and thanks again to all the reviewers! Hope you enjoy.

* * *

"What happened here!" Madam Pomfrey screeched seeing the floating body of Harry come through the door to her infirmary.

"You would not believe me if I told you." Madam Hooch said shortly.

With an odd look at Madam Hooch, Madam Pomfrey indicated which bed to place Harry in by pointing at it with her wand, as she did so the covers quickly lifted off the bed and neatly folded and placed themselves on a nearby chair.

After Harry had been placed on the bed Madam Pomfrey took a good look at him before casting some spells to determine the problem. As she performed diagnostic charm after charm she made small hmms and ahhs. When she had finished she looked over at Madam Hooch.

"Has Professor McGonagall already been informed?" She asked.

"Yes, she has. I sent Ms. Hermione Granger to fetch her, she seemed beside herself, I had to get her moving." Madam Hooch responded.

"Yes well, very good. If you could please fetch Professor Dumbledore." Madam Hooch said firmly.

"What? What's wrong with the boy?" Madam Hooch said.

"Just go fetch him for me please." Madam Pomfrey said with finality.

A short time later both Professor McGonagall and Headmaster Dumbledore arrived in the hospital wing with Madam Hooch shortly behind them.

"Poppy, what's going on here?" Headmaster Dumbledore said with concern.

"This is a very severe case of magical exhaustion." Madam Pomfrey said.

"Magical exhaustion? He is but 11 how could this have happened?" Professor McGonagall responded with shock.

"Take a moment, see for yourselves." Madam Pomfrey said gesturing to the bed Harry lay in.

Both Professor McGonagall and Headmaster Dumbledore took out their wands and ran their own diagnostic spells on Harry.

"Hmmm, interesting. When did this happen? Was anything out of the ordinary going on?" Headmaster Dumbledore said with an odd twinkle in his eyes.

After that prompting, Madam Hooch told the story of Neville and his out of control broom, and the fantastic display of magic Harry accomplished ultimately saving Neville's life.

"Interesting indeed," Dumbledore said stroking his beard thoughtfully.

"Are we able to do anything?" Professor McGonagall said.

"I am not equipped to handle this level of magical exhaustion, all I have are potions for minor exhaustion, nothing close to this level." Madam Pomfrey said.

"Professor McGonagall will you please fetch Snape, we may have need of his potions expertise," Dumbledore said. "Madam Hooch, that will be all thank you, you may return to your duties, thank you for responding to this situation as you have."

Feeling a little put out both Professor McGonagall and Madam Hooch obliged.

"Poppy, why is he not in worse shape? With that display of magic, he should be completely drained, we should need to take him to Saint Mungo's Hospital." Dumbledore asked.

"You did your own diagnostics, Albus. I saw as I am sure you did that he is regenerating his magic much quicker than normal. This is unprecedented. If he was an adult we would surely be studying him." Poppy said.

"Yes quite puzzling, luckily for Mr. Potter here there are laws that protect him. Even as such we should keep this under wraps for the time being, possibly wait for a recurrence." Albus said.

"I agree Albus," Poppy said with a nod of her head.

"Albus what's going on here, Minerva said there was something of grave importance going on.." He trailed off as he saw Harry lying in the bed.

"And what is going on here! If Minerva had said this was about Potter.." He spat out leaving the room to fill in the meaning of his sentence.

"That is exactly why I did not tell you the nature of the request Severus," Minerva said sharply.

"Severus, Harry here has just experienced something quite strange for someone his age." With that said, Dumbledore proceeded to fill Snape in on what had happened.

"Showing off just like his father! And he was showing promise in class as well, hmmph I suppose I should expect nothing less of the spawn of James." Snape Snapped.

"The idea that he did this just for the purpose of showboating is preposterous Severus! He saved Mr. Longbottom's life! Don't you forget that this 'Spawn of James' is also the son of Lily Evans!" Minerva spat back at Severus.

"That is quite enough about that!" Madam Pomfrey said. "There is a student in this hospital bed that needs assistance that I currently can not provide. Do you have any adult magi-replacement potions in stock?"

"Of course I do!" Severus said angrily.

"Well, it's settled then, please if you would Severus fetch us some so that we may administer it to Mr. Potter here." Headmaster Dumbledore said.

"Administer Adult magi-replacement potion to a child? What is this about, you know his core is nowhere near ready for something like that." Severus said quickly.

"You are free to run the diagnostic spells yourself to verify the need." Madam Pomfrey said.

With a grunt Professor Snape did just that. Upon completion, he looked at Albus stunned.

"How?" Was all he said.

"That Severus is the mystery. As I have told the others aware of the issue we should keep this under wraps for now as I am certain you are aware of the laws." Dumbledore said with a knowing look.

Understanding the implied meaning Severus stiffened. "Yes, well I will be fetching that potion now."

"Thank you, Severus," Albus said his eye twinkle returning and he clapped his hands together. "With that settled, I will return to my office, there is a bowl of soup waiting for me. I do Hope Fawkes has not gotten into it." Dumbledore said warmly.

But alas, by the time Dumbledore returned to his office Fawkes had indeed gotten into the soup.

The next morning after breakfast the students that attended that flying class where gathered and instructed not to speak of the incident, the explanation being that the power shown was a strong spurt of accidental magic brought on by the imminent demise of Mr. Longbottom. The students seemed to buy it for the time being. But one bushy-haired girl most certainly did not.

* * *

By the time Harry had woken from his exhausted state, three days had gone by and the school had returned to normal.

Entering the Great Hall for breakfast Harry felt great! Better in fact than he had in a long time. He wrote it off to the fussing of Madam Pomfrey and took his normal spot sitting right next to Hermione.

"Hello there, how's breakfast this morning?" Harry said Nonchalantly.

Seeing as Hermione was so engrossed in the morning paper she had not noticed Harry sitting down next to her. So naturally, she jumped.

"Harry!" She screeched. Promptly grabbing him in a crushing hug.

"Jeez, Hermione!" Harry gasped. Hermione quickly loosened the hug and Harry hugged her back.

"What's this all about," Harry said. "It was only a few days right?"

"Yes its been 3 days to be exact! And I was worried sick! They would not let me come visit you!" Hermione said letting go of Harry.

"They wouldn't let you visit? Really?" Harry responded.

"Yes, they said that you needed all the rest you could get. I reluctantly obeyed. But that didn't stop me from worrying." Hermione said looking at him with worry.

"Well, the rest worked! I feel great!" Harry reassured her.

"Yes well we will talk about this more during the break, later on, classes are about to start," Hermione said noticing people starting to clear from the Great Hall.

Today was Wednesday, so starting class was Herbology followed by transfiguration, lunch history of magic then charms. Due to his hospital stay Professor Flitwick waved off their extra study after charms class today so the duo took off for their favorite spot, the Library.

After grabbing all needed books and supplies for his catch up homework Harry stretched his arms up over his head the unceremoniously plopped himself in the chair next to Hermione.

"So how were the past few days?" Harry asked.

"Boring mostly," Hermione said honestly. "Though the teachers did pull the flying class aside to tell us not to worry about what happened and explained it away saying it was some kind of accidental magic."

"What? That was no accident!" Harry said appalled! That was easily the coolest thing he had ever done, and here the staff was, saying it was an accident!

"I know! Of course, Professor Flitwick knew as well and so should the other kids who saw what you did that first charms class. But that's what the teachers said so that's what everyone is believing, for now at least." Hermione responded.

"Well I guess that's alright, I don't need any extra attention anyway, what with this scar ya know," Harry said pointing to his forehead.

"Oh no we are not going to end this conversation like that!" Hermione said with a little more force than she intended causing glances from other students in the library.

"What else is there to talk about?" Harry said, genuinely confused what she was getting on about.

"Harry, this happened right after you took that long run, don't you think that these things are connected?" Hermione asked.

"Well, I'm not sure. I suppose they could be." Harry shrugged seeming to not really worry about it.

"I think it is connected. Harry, how many times did you say you had run that long?" Hermione continued.

"Hmm well never, that was amazing huh?" Harry said with a smile.

"Yes yes, amazing sure. But really, how did you feel after?" Hermione asked.

"Well, I guess I felt pretty tired," Harry said rubbing the back of his head with his right hand while looking up at the ceiling.

"Yes so! After that, you cast that spell, and while it did seem to have more power in it than when you were practicing in Professor Flitwick's classroom, you still should not have been affected like that Harry. I mean you went on casting that spell over and over again in the extra study. So why when that was the first magic you cast that day, did you pass out from exhaustion?" Hermione said looking at him pointedly.

"When you put it like that, yeah they seem a lot more connected," Harry said slumping his shoulders.

"Yes, that's what I am saying, maybe you were using your magic to help you run?" Hermione asked.

"If I was then I was not doing it on purpose. Man, that run is much less impressive now." Harry said.

"Well, at least it makes sense now. What other 11-year-old boy is out there running for hours on end!" Hermione said as if it was obvious.

"I don't know! I guess that makes sense why I passed out. I must have been using my magic to help me run, I guess I just used the rest up when Neville was falling." Harry said. "But now the question is, can other people do this? There has to be a book about using magic to aid physical activity."

"There must be, but we have homework to do, you especially, let's get that done first!" Hermione said studiously.

Harry knew she was right so he spent the next hour and a half finishing up the assignments from Monday and Tuesday. After he finished they still had plenty of time to scour the Library for some books on the subject. Unfortunately, the duo finished empty handed.

"Well, that's a bummer," Harry said, sitting back down in his normal spot.

"Yea it is," Hermione said with a pensive look on her face. "Oh! I know why don't we ask Professor Flitwick!"

"That's a great idea! I'll bet he has something on the subject!" Harry said.

After setting plans to talk to Professor Flitwick after class in the morning they made their way to the common room to relax by the fire and maybe take a nap before their Astronomy class later that night.

The next morning after a quick chat with Professor Flitwick they found that he didn't have books on the subject. He promised that he would inquire a few friends about it on Harry's behalf, and informed them that unfortunately, the people he wrote about the subject of their earlier discussion had led to a dead end as well.

Harry walked away from the short meeting with the Professor feeling disappointed. Here he was in a magical school but the first few non-class related topics he wanted to research kept leading to dead ends. But with the prompting of Hermione, he wrote a letter off to Flourish and Blotts inquiring about Magical control and books on magical amplification to physical attributes. As an afterthought Harry also sent a similar letter to Mr. Ollivander, he figured it couldn't hurt, and if there was someone that would know about magical control it had to be the wizened old wand seller.

All things considered, Harry and Hermione were having an amazing time at Hogwarts, and as the days went by filled with learning, study, and homework before the duo knew it Halloween was fast approaching!

* * *

A.N: Thank you for reading! Hope you all enjoyed!


	11. Chapter 11

A.N: Hello all! Thank you for sticking around. Sorry about the late update! Life got busy over the past few weeks. Once again thank you all for sticking around and another huge shout out to those that review! Onward!

* * *

Harry woke early on Saturday, Halloween was only 5 days away, not counting today. He woke up a little earlier than normal and seeing as he had been working hard for the past month and some change he thought that today was a fine day to take a break from running out on the grounds. He knew Hermione needed it. She had received her training clothes in the owl post from her family just a few short days after she sent the letter off. Ever since that day, she had been joining Harry out on the grounds, and she was doing fantastic! During the first few training sessions Hermione burnt herself out, but in a short amount of time she started getting her groove so to speak and was able to pace well with Harry. Ever since his visit to the hospital wing Harry had been very careful about how much time he was out training. He did not want a repeat performance, and since that day he had yet to work himself to that level of exhaustion.

Harry and Hermione had been spending more and more time working with Professor Flitwick, figuring out both Harry's physical limitations and Hermione's mental limitations. So far they had not hit the proverbial wall. Hermione was a sponge when it comes to information. Her mind was like a trap, once a bit of information got in there, it was not coming out. The duo found that they really enjoyed their time with Professor Flitwick, and it seemed as if he did too!

Harry sat next to the window with some parchment and a quill. He figured now was as good a time as any to send a letter off to his family. He had yet to send a letter and he felt terrible, but he knew they would understand, everything he was experiencing was so new, it's hard not to get swept up in the day to day. There really is nothing like being at Hogwarts. With that, Harry began writing.

* * *

Dear Family,

Hogwarts is amazing! What an awesome place! The classes are interesting. Well except for a few of them. History of magic is taught by a no joke ghost! Hermione and I are having a blast studying! We have a basically designated spot in the library! Oh, and the common room is huge! With a massive fireplace and big comfy chairs and couches to rest up or study on. There seems to always be something going on! Everyone here seems to be having a great time, so it's not just me! The bed! Wow, I have got to figure out how they make the beds so soft! It has to be a spell, I will look into it and see if we can get it done to our beds at home! I just know you two will love it!

How is Dudley? I have another letter attached to this one for him. I figured it would not be a good idea to send an owl to his school. So if you could mail off my letter to him that would be fantastic! How are you guys doing? Is it boring around the house without Duds and me running around? Speaking of running, I have something amazing to talk to you about when I see you for Winter Break! The reason I am not really talking about it now is because I don't really understand it yet. But hopefully, I will know more by the time winter comes around.

Feel free to send mail whenever you want! I will always respond! If I don't right away it's not because I am ignoring you. Sometimes I just get caught up in the wild ride.

Love you always!

Write soon!

Harry.

* * *

Duds!

Hey, Duds! How's your school? I am sure it's awesome, you have that Cane after all. Whack anyone with it yet? If you have, you best keep that to a minimum. Is that what the Cane is for? Just whacking people? Or does it have another use? I mean you don't use it to walk right? I need answers!

Anyway, School here is pretty amazing. You think it would be chilly here because of the location and all, and the building being so old. But it's not! Nice and toasty as the cold end of the year comes.

Can't wait to see you again Duds, we have so much to catch up on! And I can't wait to beat you at some video games again!

Yea I know you always win the video games, but it's still fun. I'm excited to go to the movies too! Do they let you watch movies there? They don't here, not that there would be a way to watch them from what they are saying.

I wrote to Ma'am and Uncle V, I told them to send this to you, so when you write your letter back, just send it to them and they will make sure it gets to me!

See you on Winter Break!

Harry

* * *

Harry finished writing just in time for Hermione to come walking into the common room.

"No training today?" Hermione asked.

"No, I think we have trained enough this week to warrant a break this morning! I was wondering if ya wanted to go exploring again. We haven't gone out looking around since our first week!" Harry said with a smile, folding his parchment and placing them into envelopes. "Plus I need to head up to see Hedwig and send this letter off."

The two set off to explore the winding corridors, looking for anything interesting.

"Hey! What's that?" Harry said loudly pointing.

"What?" Hermione said excited, turning and looking to the area Harry pointed.

Harry grinned evilly and lightly smacked Hermione's Shoulder. "Tag! You're it!" He said then took off down the corridor laughing.

"Hey!" Hermione said loudly and took off running after Harry.

It was still pretty early in the morning and most of the students were still in bed as it was a Saturday. So the two had most of the corridors to themselves. Harry took advantage of this, trying to make random turns to confuse Hermione, sparing a glance behind him he saw her quickly gaining on him. All that training was paying off. She was fast!

With that in mind, Harry kicked it up a notch, ducking through the corridors as fast as he could until he couldn't hear her footsteps anymore. He laughed breathing heavily and leaned against the wall.

"Whew, I probably have a minute or so before she catches up and I have to start running again," Harry said to himself out loud. Turning and looking back down the corridor from where he came.

That's when he felt it.

A slap on the shoulder.

"You're it!" Hermione yelled laughing already running away.

"What the? How did you? What?" Harry yelled after her.

"Not telling!" Hermione yelled back!

Harry took off running after her but she already had a good lead on him, he mentally berated himself, he should not have taken that break. 'That's what I get'. He thought.

Hermione was taking random corners like he was and it was getting increasingly harder to figure out where she was going.

Harry tore around the corner where he last heard her footsteps. And saw Hermione leaning against the wall breathing heavy. Harry walked up to her and sat down on the floor, he was out of breath too. She sat down next to him and started laughing. Then Harry started laughing and this continued on for a few minutes. Which did not help them catch their breath.

"Where even are we?" Harry asked.

"Well isn't that the point? We set off to explore didn't we?" Hermione said with a smile and a little red in her cheeks from the exertion of the chase.

"Yea you're right!" Harry laughed and stood up. "Well let's see if we can find our way down to the Great Hall, I am starving."

"That's a fantastic idea." Hermione agreed, accepting the offered hand from Harry, letting him help her off the ground.

The duo took off at a nice stroll wondering around looking for anything familiar.

As they turned a corridor they spotted a door that was halfway open. The duo looked at each other, shrugged and made their way towards it.

Harry opened the door the rest of the way and stepped in. The room was dark, which Harry thought was odd. Hermione pointed her wand at a candle on the wall and lit it, bathing the room in light. But what they saw was quite odd.

The room was about half the size of a classroom and was barren except for a tall mirror sitting in the middle.

"Well, this is odd," Harry said looking around the room.

Hermione took a step towards the mirror inspecting it. There was writing at the top, she shook her head.

"There is writing on the mirror but it's not a language that I have seen, and I wouldn't know what it says unless I looked it up," Hermione said with an odd mix of wonder and disappointment in her voice.

"Well, we can always look it up in the." Harry started to say until he heard Hermione gasp.

"What is it!" Harry said, thinking something was wrong.

"I. I don't know, this mirror is not showing my reflection? It's showing me, or at least I think it's me, and I am receiving an order of Merlin? And there are so many people around me. I think they might be family? Friends? It's hard to tell, but I feel like at least some of them are family. Wait! They must be! I see my parents! Oh wow! Harry, I think you are there!" Hermione said in wonder.

"What? Let me see." Harry said and Hermione stepped to the side and allowed Harry in front of the mirror.

"Whoa," Harry said.

"What! What do you see?" Hermione said.

"I see my parents. They look just like the pictures! The are both holding onto me. We look so happy. Wait wait, it looks like the rest of the area is being filled in." Harry said.

"Filled in? What do you mean?" Hermione asked.

"Well it's odd, I see in the mirror, a massive amount of people, it looks like, yea friends and family too. But I can't tell who is who, but oh wow I don't recognize some of these people. One of the people in the mirror is you, at least I think it's you, everyone is older. There is a Blonde woman standing next to me, shorter than the woman I think is you. And there is a black haired woman, a little taller than you are, all of you are shorter than me, that's awesome I like the idea of being tall."

"Is that everything?" Hermione asked.

"I think so, looks like we may be at Hogwarts. Everyone just looks so happy, I see other people like Neville is there and so is Professor Flitwick." Harry said.

"This can't be the future can it?" Hermione asked softly, almost longingly.

"I don't know, it could be," Harry said rubbing the back of his head noticing that his mirror-self did not follow suit.

"Well anyway, we best head off to the Great Hall before breakfast is over," Hermione said sounding disappointed.

"Yeah, you're right," Harry responded making his way towards the door.

Hermione took one more look in the mirror and saw something different this time. She was surprised to see that she was not at the front of the reflection, instead, there were two groups of chairs, with an aisle between them. Each seat was filled and everyone was looking towards the mirror. At the end of the aisle was a man standing to face away so she could not see his face, but she had a feeling who it was after seeing his black hair. Everyone in the mirror began clapping and birds flew down the aisle as the mirror was filled for a moment with white. The white began moving down the aisle as well. It was a woman unmistakably in a wedding dress. Walking towards the back of the scene. When she was halfway down the aisle the woman turned and she saw her face. It was her! As Hermione recognized herself in the mirror her mirror-self winked at her and finished the walk towards the man in black. Who began turning, and just as she could make out his unmistakable scar Harry called after her.

"Hermione, let's go before all the eggs are gone!" Harry said from out in the corridor.

"Best keep this one to myself," Hermione muttered with a blush on her face.

* * *

A.N: Thank you all for waiting patiently, I know it's been awhile, I hope you all can forgive me. Another chapter is on the way tomorrow as a way of apology.


	12. Chapter 12

A.N: As promised! Here ya go! Thank you again to all the reviewers! Thanks for reading! Let's do this! Also for those worrying about this being called "Harry Potter the Potions Mage," worry not! All will become clear in time!

* * *

"That was fantastic as usual," Harry said happily patting his stomach.

"Didn't you need to go to the Owlery?" Hermione asked.

"Oh, yea! Let's get to it!" Harry said.

With that, the duo quickly made their way to the Owlery to meet up with Hedwig and send off Harry's letters. As the two walked into the Owlery they spotted Ron sending off his owl.

"Hello, Ron," Harry said not particularly friendly, more as an acknowledgment.

"Oi! Harry, Hermione! Here to send off some letters?" Ron asked.

"Yes Ron, and you? Sending a letter off to your family I suppose?" Harry responded politely.

"Yea, sending one off to me Mum and Charlie, he works with dragons!" Ron said excitedly.

"Dragons you say," Harry responded sharing a look with Hermione, she returned the look and nodded knowingly. Harry glad to see she was thinking along the same lines, replied. "Whereabouts?"

"Ah in Romania, he is crazy about them dragons talks about em constantly when he is home. I always thought it would have been best if he just went to play quidditch, he was good enough you see, but Mum was never crazy about it. Though I doubt she is very crazy about this choice." Ron said with a laugh.

"Yea dragons can be quite dangerous," Hermione responded.

"Say, Ron, what do you think of meeting up with us at Hagrid's hut one of these days?" Harry asked trying to be nonchalant.

"Of course!" Ron said, "But why at Hagrid's hut?" Ron asked.

"Hagrid's a friend is all, and it's outside of the castle, don't ya think we spend enough time in here?" Harry responded.

"Well, I suppose," Ron said, so happy that Harry had invited him to hang out that he didn't pry much into it.

"Well, I am just going to send off my letters Ron, glad we caught you up here. Catch ya later." Harry said, trying to get Ron to take off and give Hermione and him some time to chat about this hatching plan.

Once Ron left the Owlery Harry and Hermione began discussing what they were going to do about Hagrid's friend. Little did they know a blonde Slytherin was just outside the door and heard every word. And of course, Draco began hatching his own plan.

* * *

As the week went on Harry and Hermione's focus was on the dragon egg, and the memory of the mirror slowly crept from Harry's mind. But not Hermione's. She was spending a part of every evening in front of the mirror. Looking at her supposed future, or what she thought could be the future. It the night before Halloween when it happened.

"Hello, Ms. Granger. Enjoying the Mirror of Erised? I myself have spent plenty of time enjoying its view." A soft voice rang out in the once thought empty room, causing Hermione to jump.

"Headmaster! You scared me!" Hermione said.

"Yes well, I assure you that was not my intention. How long have you known of the mirror Ms. Granger?" He replied.

"Harry and I stumbled on it just a few days ago Headmaster," Hermione replied, wondering if she was going to get in trouble.

"Ah yes, so Mr. Potter has seen the mirror as well," Dumbledore said nodding his head.

"Yes, he has Professor he saw." She began saying.

"There is no need Ms. Granger, what one sees inside of the mirror is private. For most people at least, if Mr. Potter wishes to tell me, he can himself." The Headmaster said.

"Private?" Hermione asked.

"Yes, you see the Mirror of Erised shows one their deepest desires," Dumbledore said.

"So it doesn't show the future?" Hermione said with a saddened voice.

"It's not that it doesn't show the future because who knows, you very well could achieve your deepest desires in life." The Headmaster replied.

"That's wonderful to hear! Thank you, Headmaster!" Hermione said.

"Yes anyway, Ms. Granger, it does not do well for someone to spend too much time looking into the mirror, many have wasted away looking at their desires and in so never achieving them. Best to not dwell on what is shown too much lest you forget to live your life." Dumbledore said.

"I understand Headmaster, I won't return," Hermione said head hung low.

"No need to fret Ms. Granger, the mirror will be moved tonight, but please, don't go looking for it," Dumbledore said with a smile.

"Alright, I had better head back to the dorms Headmaster. It's getting close to curfew." Hermione said.

"Yes, it would be best if you did," Dumbledore said.

* * *

Finally, Halloween was here! And though Harry knew what happened on this day, and thinking about it made his heart feel heavy, it was hard not to revile in everyone's excitement. He had grown to love the holiday for what it was and not to wallow in what was in the past. After all, his parents wouldn't have wanted that, at least that's what the Dursleys said. So every year he and Duds donned costumes of different types and paraded around Little Whinging with all the other children in the area, Harry had taken a liking to the character Batman quite young and loved to stick to that theme almost every year!

But this year he was at Hogwarts and there was no costumes and parading around, classes were still held, but there was to be a grand feast in the Great Hall tonight in celebration! Harry and Hermione couldn't wait, classes seemed to drag on until finally, it was time, and the duo made their way to the Great Hall filled with anticipation.

As they walked through the doors to the Great Hall they could not help but be awestruck. All around them were floating Jack O Lanterns all with different carved faces and all perfectly carved. There were animated bats flying around the room, every ghost in the castle was in attendance tonight. And to top it all off, near the Head Table were absolutely massive pumpkins also carved into Jack O Lanterns. The Great Hall had a very orange glow throughout the room except for the ceiling, which was enchanted to have a spooky foggy glow with the moon just a bit bigger than it should be.

The feast was going splendidly. The food was perfect as usual and the hall was alive with laughter and joy, as the students exchanged scary stories and boasted about how they had spent Halloweens in the past. That was until Professor Quirrell slammed open the doors and ran in the hall.

"Troll in the Dungeons! Just thought you should know." He shouted before promptly hitting the ground. Presumably passed out.

The Great Hall exploded in sounds as the students began panicking. A loud crack sounded in the hall as Headmaster Dumbledore raised his wand, effectively silencing the masses. He quickly gave orders to the Prefects to gather the students of their respective houses into an orderly line and get them to their dorms as quickly and safely as possible. The students fell into line and the Great Hall was soon empty except for the teachers and the Headmaster.

"Albus, what are we going to do?" Professor McGonagall said worry in her voice.

"Split into two parties, it looks as if Professor Quirrell will need some medical attention. Professor Trelawney please if you will, go fetch Poppy and bring her to him." Dumbledore said.

With that, the teachers broke up into two groups and started scouring the halls. That is except for Professor Snape who took off in another direction.

"Something doesn't feel right Hermione," Harry said quietly so only she could hear him.

"Well, of course, there is a troll on the loose!" Hermione replied just as quietly.

"No I mean besides that, I feel a pulling, like I'm being pulled somewhere. Like I am not supposed to be in this line." Harry said back to her.

"What do you mean?" Hermione replied.

"Like there is somewhere else I am supposed to be," Harry said noticeably anxious.

"Well, where else should you be?" Hermione asked confused.

"I don't know, that's just it," Harry said as they continued to follow the line.

"Well we are supposed to be heading to the dorms Harry, so we can be safe from the troll," Hermione said.

"I know that it's just this is such a strong feeling. I can't really explain it." As Harry said this he turned his head sharply to the right looking down a corridor the group was passing. Turning back to Hermione he said. "This is it."

"This is what?" Hermione said but it was too late, Harry had already broken from the group and taken off down that corridor, with a frustrated sigh and a shake of her head Hermione took off after him. Luckily they were at the back of the formation, so no one noticed them slip off.

"Harry! Where are we going!" Hermione called after Harry, still trying to be quite.

"Following the pull Hermione, I have to know what this is," Harry said.

They rounded the corner and smelled the troll before they saw it, it was like hitting a wall, the stench was so strong.

"Ugh, that is disgusting," Harry said spotting the troll lumbering its way through a door.

"Alright we have seen it, let's go!" Hermione said hand over her mouth.

"Hermione there is something going on, and I need to find out, even if it means following that troll in there," Harry said, and just as he finished they heard a scream coming from the room the troll just entered.

Harry took off running towards the door when he was about half way there, a girl bolted out of the room, she was bleeding from her right shoulder and her robes looked disheveled. She started to run down the corridor towards them when the troll smashed through the wall sending bits of the stone everywhere, knocking the girl down.

"Hey!" Harry yelled, trying to get the trolls attention, unfortunately, it did not work. Harry kept running towards the girl and the troll. The troll was raising its club to smash the girl and she was not moving. Harry dug deep and roared as his body began moving faster, he had accessed it again, he was using his magic to fuel his body, he tore off towards the troll. The yell got the trolls attention for a short second causing it to hesitate, then it started its downward swing. If that club hit the girl she would surely die.

Harry slid forward on his knees grabbing the girl at the last possible second before the club hit the ground, sending more stone flying. Hermione pulled out her wand and yelled the first spell that came to her mind, "Incendio," she yelled, and fire spewed forth from her wand. The troll made a horrible sound as the left side of its body was burned by the spell. The air was thick with the scent of the now burnt troll, they thought the troll could not smell any worse, they were wrong.

Though the fire burnt the flesh of the troll, it seemed to only make it angry. It began flailing its club around wildly. Smashing it into the walls sending more and more rubble into the air, there was now so much dust that Hermione could not see past it to where Harry and the girl were.

"Harry! Are you okay!" Hermione yelled after sending more fire towards the troll.

"Yes, I got the girl a good distance away!" She heard him yell back.

"Be careful!" Hermione yelled back.

Harry knew it was too dangerous to try his overpowered levitation charm. He didn't know how much of his magic he used up getting to the girl. So he had to think.

"Hermione! I think I have a plan!" Harry yelled, she could hear the fatigue in his voice, he had to have been dodging around in the dust this whole time, and he had that girl to look after too.

"Start shooting off red sparks when you see the smoke!" Harry yelled out to her.

"Smoke?" Hermione yelled, "Okay!"

"Fumos!" Harry yelled. And in a moment the corridor was filled with thick smoke, no one could see anything! And that meant the troll couldn't either!

"Brilliant!" Hermione yelled. Sending out as many sparks as she could, Harry began doing the same. This made the troll even angrier, it started slamming into everything, or at least that's what it sounded like. There was no way for the children to know.

"What now!" Hermione yelled to Harry.

"Just keep this up!" Harry yelled.

The duo kept shooting up red sparks everywhere they could, Harry was dodging back and forth, a good distance he thought from the troll, when he heard a sickening crunch, and then silence.

Harry stood breathing heavy hunched over resting his hands on his knees for a few moments. When he stood up the smoke vanished, and the first thing he noticed was the massive body of the troll under a lot of rubble. It looked as if it smashed its club against the ceiling and a good chunk of the floor fell right on its head. The second thing he noticed, was Headmaster Dumbledore standing with his wand out, which explained where all his smoke went. But the third thing he saw was Professor McGonagall, and she looked very angry. Which was arguably scarier than the troll.

* * *

A.N: There ya have it! Hope you all enjoyed! Thanks again!


	13. Chapter 13

A.N: Busy busy busy! All I can say is I am sorry for the late update. Hope you all enjoy!

* * *

As the smoke dissipated, Harry's face dropped, there on the other side of all the rubble, standing next to Hermione and Headmaster Dumbledore was an extremely cross looking Professor McGonagall.

"Hey Headmaster, Professor, fancy seeing you here," Harry said with a falsely cheerful tone while rubbing the back of his head, he was covered from head to foot in dust from the collapsed portion of the above hall.

"Don't you try getting yourself out of this one Mr. Potter, both you and Ms. Granger are completely out of line, you were told to immediately return to your dorms! Now head up to the infirmary this instant, Madam Pomfrey is going to have a fit!

"Now now Professor McGonagall, what these two have done is quite remarkable, 20 points to Gryffindor." Professor Dumbledore said with a twinkle in his eye. "Harry if you would be so kind, could you please start making your way to the infirmary like Professor McGonagall said, we will be right behind you with Ms. Greengrass."

"Yes Sir," Harry replied quickly, glad to have seemingly gotten out of trouble. He quickly made his ways across the hall to where Hermione was. When he reached her, she threw her arms around him in a desperate hug.

"Harry, I was so scared!" Hermione said starting to sob.

"It's okay Hermione, we did good, look if we didn't come when we did, who knows what would have happened to that girl," Harry replied trying to sooth her.

"Is this how it's always going to be?" Hermione asked letting Harry go and wiping a few tears from her face.

"How what's going to be?" Harry asked in confusion.

"This, you always running head first into trouble," Hermione said with a small smile on her face.

"Well it does make for some exciting times," Harry responded with a big grin.

"I suppose it does," Hermione said, and they both began the walk to the infirmary.

* * *

"How is she, Albus?" Professor McGonagall asked.

"She is unconscious Professor, it looks as if she is still bleeding, we should hurry," Dumbledore said with worry in his voice.

With that Dumbledore levitated Daphne and quickly took off towards the infirmary.

"Seems that we have been visiting the infirmary quite often in regards to Mr. Potter, wouldn't you say Minerva?" Dumbledore said with a grin.

"Yes too much like his father, that one, always getting himself into trouble. Let's just hope he doesn't start pulling any shenanigans like that group of his fathers did so often." Professor McGonagall said with exasperation.

"I don't think we have to worry about that Minerva, I feel Ms. Granger would put a stop to that before it began," Dumbledore said.

"Yes well, wouldn't you have assumed she would have kept him in line headed back to the dorms if that was the case?" Minerva said sharply.

"I'm certain that she tried, but some things can't be stopped." Headmaster Dumbledore said.

"What is that supposed to mean?" McGonagall said confused.

"Just that some people feel the call, the pull if you will, to be the hero, to do the right thing. Harry is one of those people." Dumbledore said.

"That's quite a lot of responsibility to put on someone so young," Minerva said.

"Yes well, he seems to be filling the role quite well, first Mr. Longbottom, now Ms. Greengrass. Not two months into his time at Hogwarts and already two people owe him their lives." Dumbledore said. Growing ever more confident in the future, knowing what may be in store for Harry.

"The dark times are over Albus, the boy needs to be focused on living, the dark has already taken so much from him, why must he continue to give," Minerva said somberly.

"It can't be helped, some are born to it, it's in his blood, his very being. From the moment he was born he was special, and that continues to be proven every day. Have you spoken to the other teachers about his performance?" Dumbledore replied.

"It's not normal Albus, what's going on here. He has the most powerful levitation charm I have ever seen, he has not failed one assignment in potions class, and though Hermione regularly beats him to the punch in transfiguration he is always hot on her heals." Minerva said.

"Quite abnormal indeed, but what do we expect from the boy who lived? I have reading material on the way about some of the potential he has been showing. He is not the first to have tapped into something like this, others have been able to utilize their own magic to enhance their physical abilities." The Headmaster said.

"Yes and what about his abnormal spell power. Professor Flitwick says he has been working with Harry for over a month and they can not localize the power of his levitation charm, the way it's looking he will never be able to just use it the way we do." She replied.

"I am working on that," Dumbledore said as they walked into the infirmary. "Ah, Poppy I see you have already seen to Mr. Potter and Ms. Granger."

"Albus! What is going on here! Put her over there please." Poppy replied.

"It seems that Ms. Granger and Mr. Potter here saved Ms. Greengrass's life from a rather large troll," Dumbledore said.

"Troll? How in the?" Poppy began to reply.

"We are investigating that Poppy, now how is the girl?" McGonagall said.

After running a few diagnostic spells Poppy looked relieved.

"She is merely unconscious, though the wound looks serious, it is mostly superficial, we will get that patched up, give her some blood replenishing potions and have her rest here for the next few days to monitor her, but she will make a full recovery."

"Good and what of these two?" Minerva said looking relieved as well.

"They are fine, just tired, probably just need some food and a good night's rest." Poppy said quickly.

"Nutrient potions will have to do, the kitchens are closed due to the emergency," Dumbledore said waving his wand at a cupboard, which opened up and two vials lazily floated out and towards Harry and Hermione, who caught them, looked at each other and quickly downed the contents.

"Yuk!" They both said with grimaces on their faces.

"Well, they are not made to taste good!" Poppy said glancing at them.

"Well, they should be," Harry replied staring at the bottle, an idea forming in his head.

Stashing those thoughts away for later he looked around the room.

"So we are good? No detention?" Harry asked looking sheepish.

"No detention Mr. Potter. Now head straight back to your dorms and get some rest! No detours! Not even if there is another troll!" Professor McGonagall said sharply.

With nods, the two stood up and made their way towards the door. As they reached the threshold Harry turned around, "Madam Pomfrey, would it be alright if we can to visit her tomorrow?" He asked.

"Of course Mr. Potter, now run along." Poppy replied.

* * *

"Daphne right?" Harry asked the black haired girl.

"That's right, Potter." She replied coldly.

"You can call me Harry." He replied, with a big smile, not at all affected by her cold response.

"I suppose you think this means I owe you a favor or something," Daphne said in the same cold tone. Turning to look at Harry and Hermione.

"Oh wow! You have green eyes too!"Harry said surprised.

"Yes quite the conversationalist, aren't you." She replied sarcastically.

"Just saying, not a whole lot of green eyed people around here," Harry replied with a shrug.

"Why were you in that bathroom, all the way up there, during dinner?" Hermione asked.

"I would rather not say." She replied.

"Embarrassing?" Harry replied with a nod like he figured it out.

"No, I just don't know you," Daphne said matter of factly.

"That's fair," Hermione replied.

"Well hey, I am Harry, and this is Hermione! Now we have officially met!" Harry said with another big grin.

"Charmed, I'm sure," Daphne replied coldly again.

"This is about all the time we have, we are glad you are okay," Hermione said quickly. "We are off to lunch."

"Enjoy," Daphne said laying back down in her bed to get some more rest.

"That was pleasant," Hermione said after they left the infirmary.

"Yea well she is a Slytherin," Harry said.

"What do you mean?" Hermione replied.

"Slytherins don't seem to like me very much," Harry replied with a shrug.

"I think Slytherins in general just don't open up to people quickly," Hermione responded.

"Yea they mostly keep to themselves. I wonder why that is." Harry said.

"It has to be because so many people assume they are evil or up to no good just because they were sorted into that house," Hermione replied.

"That makes sense, I hope we can be friends with her," Harry replied.

"We will see, she seemed really cold like she just wanted us out of her face," Hermione said looking thoughtful.

"I'll bet something happened. Like there is no reason she should have been in that bathroom while dinner was going on, there are so many closer bathrooms." Harry replied.

"I suppose we'll never know," Hermione said.

"Eh, she will tell us," Harry said.

"What makes you so sure?" Hermione replied.

"Well, I am just going to pester her until she does," Harry replied with a smile.

"I don't know if that will work Harry," Hermione said with a laugh.

"Well, then I'll just be nice to her until she feels comfortable enough to tell us!" Harry said.

"Good luck with that, we saved her life and she was still cold to us," Hermione said in reply.

"She is recovering, I am sure she will be much warmer after she is feeling better," Harry said feeling sure of his answer.

"We will see!" Hermione said as they sat down in their normal spots for lunch.

* * *

Classes had been canceled for the day due to the troll. So the duo went off for some self-study in an abandoned classroom, Harry grabbed his potions supplies and spent the rest of the day trying to make a nutrient potion that actually tasted good. While Hermione studied ahead in transfiguration.

The days went on without much to note, Harry and Hermione kept studying hard. Harry continued his work on nutrient potions and Hermione finished multiple books on becoming an animagus. She was extremely interested in the subject. They spent most of their time in the library. Every time Harry saw Daphne in the corridors or elsewhere in the school he made sure to say hello and bring up something interesting. At first, she did not respond, she would just ignore him but after a week or so she began responding. By December she began sitting with them at their normal spot in the library. Though she still was cold in her demeanor. It was obvious that she was trying to be their friend. She just didn't seem to know how to have friends.

* * *

Before they knew it Christmas break was upon them!

Harry and Hermione both packed up some of their things and made their way to the Great Hall with the rest of the students going home for the winter break.

"Hey, Daphne!" Harry said when he and Hermione joined the crowd.

"Hello, Harry, Hermione." She replied. Getting her to speak more than a few words was like pulling teeth, but they were getting there.

"Going on the train too then?" Hermione asked.

"No, my father is picking me up in Hogsmeade," Daphne replied.

"Oh okay well I suppose we will see you when we get back," Hermione replied with a smile as the group began making their way to the Hogsmeade station.

"Any big plans for the Holidays?" Harry asked Daphne.

"No." Was her short reply.

"Oh, do you celebrate Christmas?" Hermione asked.

"We do, it is a very subdued affair though," Daphne replied.

"Well if you want you can come hang out with us this Christmas, we are having a big get together, both Hermione, her family, and mine," Harry said.

"I will speak to my father about it." She replied as they arrived in Hogsmeade. "Enjoy your Holiday." She said with a wave and made her way to The Three Broomsticks where she was meeting her father.

"That's going well," Harry said.

"I doubt they will come," Hermione said.

"Why do you say that?" Harry replied confused.

"Her family is pretty high up the chain in the wizarding world," Hermione explained.

"So that means they don't have Christmas?" Harry asked.

"No that just means socially they may not find it wise to come hang out with muggles," Hermione said sadly.

Harry grimaced, the wizarding world was pretty bigoted when it came to blood purity and that really rubbed Harry the wrong way.

"Well enough about that!" Harry said with a big grin. "What are you getting me for Christmas?"

"Like I would tell you that! It would ruin the surprise!" Hermione said slapping Harry on the shoulder.

Harry smiled back at her and they boarded the train for London!

* * *

A.N: Thanks for reading! Hope you all enjoyed!


	14. Chapter 14

Author's Note: Hello all, wow what a year this has been, sorry for the long delay life happens, not much I can do about it. I have a solid plot set ahead for the story that I think will be enjoyable. After this one, the chapters should be longer. Onward and upward as they say. Also from this point on in the story, Dan and Emily will be the names of Hermione's parents.

* * *

Harry awoke in his quiet room Christmas morning, he stretched his hands above his head with a groan. Sitting up he rubbed his eyes and looked out the window. It was still dark outside but he could see the snow falling on the already covered streets. The glow from the street lamps gave the scene a storybook glow and Harry sighed, he was glad to be home but he missed Hogwarts already. Stepping out of bed he had another big stretch and opened up Hedwig's cage.

"Hey girl," he said patting her head. "Fancy a little time outside?" He asked her. She hoo'ed in response. She really was a remarkable bird. Harry opened his window for enough time to let her outside and quickly shut it again. "Man it's cold out there." He said rubbing his arms. Looking at the time it was only 5:30 AM, but he felt wide awake. He decided to throw on some shorts and a tee shirt and do a quick workout. Luckily at some point, while he was at Hogwarts Uncle V got a treadmill and weight set. So he made his way to the basement.

Time flew by as it always does when Harry is doing something physical, and before he had tired himself out he could hear some movement upstairs. Taking the treadmill to a stop he wiped the sweat from his face and slung the towel over his shoulder making his way upstairs. "Hey Uncle V!" Harry said with excitement. "It's Christmas!"

"That it is Harry," Vernon said with a chuckle and a smile. The smell of coffee was strong, freshly brewed. Harry didn't really need any but he loved the smell and the taste, caffeine had never really affected him like it did other people, he figured it was because of the whole wizard thing he had going for him. Pouring himself a cup he looked at Vernon. "When is everyone arriving?" He asked.

"In time Harry," Vernon said hiding a smile. Harry caught the look though.

"Hey, you're hiding something!" Harry said with squinted eyes taking a sip of his coffee. Harry gasped, breathing in and out quickly holding his throat. "Too hot!" He said in a little bit of pain. Vernon laughed out loud at this. "Of course I am hiding something, it's Christmas! And oh the coffee is hot by the way." He said with a smirk.

"Not funny!" Harry said looking betrayed. At that moment there was a loud shout of "It's Christmas," which was followed closely by someone thundering down the stairs. "Harry it's Christmas!" Dudley yelled as he blew into the kitchen. "Hey Duds, yea it is, what ya get me?" Harry asked trying to be nonchalant. "Oh, it's not much just... Wait a minute, you almost got me!" Dudley said quickly with a big smile on his face.

"Can't blame me for tryin," Harry said with a shrug. Wiping the remnants of sweat from his workout off his face. "Well, I'm gonna pop in the shower."

"When are we going to open presents Dad!" Dudley asked performing his best puppy dog eyed look.

"Soon enough Duders," Vernon said pushing his chair back and standing up. "Head on upstairs and get dressed, we'll open em soon enough."

Dudley looked at his father oddly. "Dressed? It's Christmas, we always wear PJs." He said a perplexed.

"Well not this year Duders, just go get dressed, and let Harry know too," Vernon said making his way out of the kitchen and up the stairs.

Dudley ran upstairs after his Dad, passing the hallway bathroom he yelled, "Harry Dad's being weird, he wants us to get dressed." Harry barely heard Dudley through the sound of the shower and called back. "Like normal day clothes?"

"I don't know, lemme ask," Dudley called back. "Dad, normal clothes?"

"Yea but with a jumper," Vernon yelled back from his and Petunia's room. More quietly he said, "Do you think they will like this?" Petunia turned around almost fully dressed. "Oh I don't think they will ever forget this, I'm glad the Grangers are on board." She said slipping on a light pink sweater with MERRY CHRISTMAS printed in big white letters on the front.

"With a jumper Harry," Dudley called out.

"Weird Okay," Harry called back after turning off the shower.

Before long the boys were downstairs standing in front of the tree looking for the presents. When Petunia and Vernon strolled down to meet them they were bombarded with. "Where are the presents!"

"Oh don't worry come here you too," Petunia said with a smile as Vernon walked over to the tree with them. The boys started to protest but their words stopped as the fireplace suddenly began growing until it was almost touching the ceiling. Where there was no fire before blazed an oddly flickering green blaze, and from it they saw the largest man they knew waltz right out as if it was an everyday thing, walking through fireplaces.

"Hagrid!" The boys yelled in unison, both zipping to him in an instant and jumping on the large man. "Merry Christmas!"

"Merry Christmas boys! My Dudley look how tall you are getting!" Hagrid bellowed.

"4 cm this year so far!" Dudley said proudly.

"I can see, keep that up and you'll be as tall as me!" Hagrid laughed. Turning to the adults. "Ready?"

"Ready." They said together.

"Alright kids step on in the fire there and say…"

* * *

"When are they going to be here!" Hermione said almost whining.

"Won't be long now dear. Just be patient." Emma said.

Before long the fireplace flared up and out stepped Harry and Dudley, Hermione shrieked "Harry! Jumping out of her chair and grabbing him in a massive hug! Harry laughed as the brown-haired missile crashed into him. "Hello, Hermione! I've missed you too." He said, and he had, they had not seen each other since the train ride home. Breaking off the hug with Harry, Hermione turned and grabbed Dudley in a hug as well. "Dudley look how tall you've gotten!" Hermione said after breaking the hug with Dudley. Sheepishly he said, "Yea 4 cm this year." Hermione smiled and grabbed Harry's hand, "come on you too, you have to see this." She said as she started to drag Harry to another room. As they were exiting the fire roared again and out stepped Petunia and Vernon, followed a moment later by Hagrid.

Hermione dragged Harry along through a quick passageway, Dudley quick on their heels. She used her free hand to open a massive door and quickly went through. When they crossed the threshold the three just stopped. Harry gasped as he looked around. Hermione watched his face to see his reaction, she had already seen the whole place. Her face a little flush with excitement, wearing a grin so large the sides of her mouth hurt. "Wow, this is amazing Hermione!" Harry exclaimed a look of pure joy spread on his face. "Whoooa!" Dudley yelled and took off running around the room to look at everything closer.

The room was all green and red, with dark hardwood floor, a large roaring fire in the fireplace, which was adorned with stockings embroidered with their names. Next to the fireplace was the furniture a deep red color and looked soft enough to sleep on. The ceiling was decked out in Christmas decoration, hanging snowflakes and even a large Santa and reindeer hung above it all. In the corner next to a gigantic window standing tall and proud was the largest Christmas tree Harry had ever seen, covered in decorations and stringed white lights. But what was underneath the tree was what really got them all excited. A massive pile of presents accompanied the tree, and Dudley wasn't sure he had ever seen anything so glorious. Harry took it all in and laughed, a genuine laugh, he was so surprised by all of this, it was so much to take in. "Look at all this Hermione! I have never seen anything like it!" Harry exclaimed. "Oh Harry just wait, you must see this!" Still holding his hand Hermione dragged harry over to the window. "Just look out there!"

Harry couldn't believe his eyes. They were on a mountain. Covered in snow, it was just early enough that the sun was just over the horizon shining brightly on the winter landscape, it was unbelievable, the way the sun hit the snow made the whole world look as if it were sparkling. "This is incredible." Harry finally said with finality.

"Alright everyone who is ready for gifts!" Vernon said merrily as the adults walked into the room.

"Oh, we are we are!" The kids said excitedly.

"Well you guys get to sorting, once everyone has their piles then we will start opening," Dan said draping his arm around his wife.

That got the kids moving. In no time the presents were sorted and wrapping paper was flying everywhere. Though the number of presents was large, it was mostly clothes, much to the chagrin of the children, though they were growing and it is needed. Hermione and Harry got a good number of new athletic clothing both for cold and warm weather. While Dudley also received some athletic clothing mostly he got everyday clothes, as he was not as dedicated to running as the other two were. After the normal gifts were all through the special ones came out, the ones from the children to each other. Hermione and Harry split the cost and got Dudley a couple new games to play on his gaming console. Harry got Hermione a never-ending quill for those long nights writing papers at school. Hermione got Harry a book, Potions through the ages. "I know you love potions, and Snape is a git so I hope you like it." She said quietly. "I love it, thank you Hermione," Harry replied with a beaming smile. Dudley got them both coupons for one book at Flourish and Blotts. "I looked around but all the books seemed overwhelming, so I just got you this, so you guys can pick out your own," Dudley said lamely feeling disappointed in his coupons. "Duds, this is awesome, I know just the one to get!" Harry said, "Yea me too!" Hermione said with a smile. "Really?" Dudley asked surprised. "Yea! Thanks, Duds," They both said.

Hagrid made some sweets for everyone, and those always went over well, when the big guy made food that wasn't for him, he made it perfect. "Oh and Harry, Hermione, I took care of our little friend, if you know what I mean," Hagrid said to them as he handed them their gifts.

"Really Hagrid? What happened?" Hermione asked genuinely curious.

"Well, that little redhead Weasley came up to me before the train left and told me he would get in touch with his brother and he would sort it out," Hagrid said grabbing his beard and pulling on it. Looking a little teary-eyed, "I'm gonna miss em." He choked up a little at the end.

"Oh Hagrid, don't worry, he will be happy to be with other dragons," Harry said, trying to console the giant.

"Dragons?" Dudley said in surprise, "Dragons are real?" He finished wide-eyed.

"Oh yeah," Harry said laughing, "I'll tell ya all about this later."

"You better!" Dudley said.

"Alright everyone let's clean up all the paper everywhere and then we are going to step into another room, we have one last surprise for all of you," Emily said beaming at the children.

After they finished cleaning up the wrapping paper the families picked up and moved into another room. "What's this?" Hermione asked her parents as they walked in and saw a bunch of winter weather gear.

"This my dear is ski gear, we are going skiing!" Emily said smiling.

"Yes! That is awesome!' Dudley said loudly, the adults laughed as the children hurriedly put on their snow gear. After everyone was ready they took a short stroll towards the Ski lodge. After renting their appropriate equipment the fun began.

* * *

Harry couldn't remember the last time he had this much fun. It didn't take him long to find his balance, after a few spills he started looking like a natural, Dudley, on the other hand, could not stop falling.

"Ya gotta do it like this Duds," Harry called out laughing as Dudley fell once again.

Vernon turned to Petunia and said, "It's because he grew so much this year, he is not used to it yet." Petunia agreed. "You too can head on down we will be right behind you." She said to Harry and Hermione.

They needed no further prodding and immediately took off down the slope. It wasn't the adult slopes but it was still pretty sharp and they picked up speed fast! Harry was laughing the whole way down, and Hermione was slightly behind him, he could hear her laughing as well. They zipped down the slope zig-zagging around and having a great time. They took the ride back up multiple times until finally, Dan called out, "Last run guys! We have a great dinner just about ready!" Dan wasn't much of a skier and neither was his wife, so they stayed back and relaxed watching the group have fun, and checked on the food as it cooked.

Harry was going faster than he ever had, zooming down the slope, he could really get behind this skiing thing, it also made him wonder about Quidditch, if he was having this much fun zooming around then he figured he might like to play. Who knew he would have this much fun! As he came to the end of the run he slowed down and came to a stop and started looking around, just enjoying the view, it was getting late and the sun was setting, sending colors throughout the sky, it was beautiful. He smiled to himself. And just as he was turning around he heard, "Harry look out!" But it was too late, a blur slammed into him and they went tumbling for a bit. They came to a stop and he realized it was Hermione who had run into him, he laughed and she beamed. At some point during their tumbling they had both lost their headgear, he looked up at Hermione, her cheeks pink with the cold, he could see her breath in the air and he smiled. Before he had time to react. She swooped down and kissed him on his cheek. "Merry Christmas!" She said. "Merry Christmas Hermione." He responded with a smile.

The families and one giant enjoyed a fantastic Christmas feast together and all too soon they were saying their goodbyes. It was a fantastic day. Hermione gave Harry one last hug before he stepped into the fire, his family going before him. "See you on the train, Harry!" She said looking both happy and sad at the same time. He smiled and hugged her back, "won't be long now, I can't wait to get back." He responded, "Me either." She said as she broke the hug and Harry smiled at her one last time before stepping into the flames.

Dan and Emily shared a knowing look and shook their heads.

* * *

That night as Harry was stepping into his room, he turned and shut the door, opened the window to let Hedwig in and slipped into his PJs. 'What an awesome day.' He thought, he was disapointed that Daphnee did not end up coming, but he was not surprised, as he stepped towards the bed he felt something under his foot. Confused he grabbed it, it was another gift. Upon unwrapping it he found a cloth inside, it felt impossibly smooth to the touch, and he wasn't sure what it was, he shrugged and slung it around himself like a cape, did a quick flourish and turned around. He gasped as he looked into the mirror. All he could see was his head! "Whoa! Cool!" He said. After playing around with it for a bit he folded it up nicely and set it on the wrapping paper it had come in. Laying down in bed he could not think how his life could get any better.

Little did he know, horrible things were on the horizon.

Author's note: thanks to everyone who has reviewed, and thanks to all the readers, I hope you enjoyed this chapter!


	15. Chapter 15

A.N. Hello all! A short chapter for you today, with a promise of more to come soon, my time is normalizing and I am excited to get back into this work! Hope you all enjoy, bit of a setup, again thank you all for the reviews!

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Snape woke early. Sat up in his bed and pulled out his thought journal. It helped him keep things in order. Recently things have not felt… in order. He knew someone was after the stone. He didn't know who though, but he did have a short list of suspects. What he found odd was that he seemed to be the only staff member with any clue to what was going on. The others were either oblivious to the activity or just ignored it as children being curious. With a sigh he resolved to continue his investigations on his own, working with people had never been a strong suit of his, and he knew this. People just frustrated him. Along the lines of things that frustrated him... Children… Harry Potter… This child was not as he had expected, he showed promise in potions which is a wonder because his father had shown no aptitude. But his Mother had, if he were being honest with himself the boy reminded him more of Lily than of James. That thought alone made him want to treat the boy better than he had been. Though as much as he would like to ease up on him, his Godson is in the same group as Harry. Which means he had to be harsh to the boy. If anyone were still loyal to their dead master it would be Lucius. Snape wouldn't put it past his Godson to run off to Lucius should he start letting up on Harry. He resolved to find a way to let Harry know, that he did not hate him and that he did no longer blame him for the actions of his father. He would find a way. He is a Slytherin after all… Closing the journal with a grumble he made his way to his personal washroom; all staff were provided personal accommodations, a small perk of working at Hogwarts. Staring at himself in the mirror he noted that he needed another shave. Now, most wizards that wished to have a smooth face just used a spell. Snape did not. Not since Lily had surprised him with a gift as they were growing up. The only gift he had ever received from her. He cherished it. Opening a cabinet he pulled it out. A pristine safety razor. After he lathered his face he began. It was odd, the pulling sensation he had grown accustomed to it though, it was soothing in a way. When he had begun all those years ago, the sink would be spattered in blood, over the years his technique had improved, he now very rarely had a mishap, and with each swipe, he was reminded of her. He would never forget. He would never forgive his once Master.

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Harry awoke to a loud ding, blearily he opened his eyes, startled as he was he'd still had an exhausting day yesterday. Once he found his glasses he was confused for a moment, the ding sound had apparently come from a letter, that was now floating in the middle of his room, glowing a soft green. Harry got out of bed and grabbed the letter, the envelope was a nice golden color. With a shrug, he opened it. It was a quick read. He smiled and dressed for a morning run. He didn't like off days. Once he finished and showered he sat down at the table and had some fruit as he waited for his family to wake up. He didn't have to wait long as Dudley brambled his way down the stairs, still not used to his recent growth spurt.

"Oy, what was that noise earlier," he said jabbing his thumb back towards the stairs.

"Ah nothin, you'll find out in a few when Aunty and Uncle V make their way down here." He had taken to calling his Aunt, Aunty nowadays.

"Wait to tell us what?" Vernon said with a yawn as he made his way into the kitchen, followed closely by Petunia.

"Did you two hear that ding earlier?" Harry asked with a smile. To which he received a yes from both parties. "Well that was this," he said pulling out the letter and handing it to his uncle.

"An invitation?" Vernon said, handing the letter to Petunia for her to read over.

"Yup," Harry said with a smile. "Remember when I told you me and Hermione."

"Hermione and I.." Petunia corrected.

"Hermione and I…" Harry said with an eye roll and a smile. "Anyway, we helped a girl out that was in a bit of trouble?"

"Yes we remember, you were quite vague with the details, mind filling us in?" Vernon said with a look.

"Whats vague mean?" Dudley said looking confused.

"Unclear, like he left details out." Petunia said quickly setting the letter down and giving Harry a start talking look.

"Yes well you see there was this Troll.." Harry started.

"Trolls are real?" Dudley asked wide-eyed.

"Yes they are," Harry replied.

"Okay, what's this with the Troll, get on with it," Vernon said, he had a feeling he was not going to like where this was going, and he was right... So Harry began his retelling of the story, which included phrases such as. "And I hit it with a spell and it was all like PSKEWWW and the ceilings started falling and I was all like…" With appropriate hand motions and flailing.

"What is going on at that school of yours!" Vernon said, face looking red.

"Now honey, maybe this was a bit exaggerated." Petunia said to Vernon in an attempt to calm him down.

"Oh no, it happened just like that!" Harry said with a big smile, looking quite proud of himself.

"I will be having words with that headmaster of yours!" Vernon said, a little of his old temper coming out of him. He just couldn't help it, this was his boy! HIS Boy! If the Troll was anywhere near the size Harry was saying how could it be roaming about a school unnoticed! Where were the teachers? And a little girl was hurt? What is going on! This began a small rant from Vernon, to which Petunia attempted to calm him down. Harry had sat down in a chair and sunk way down. He was shaking at this point, he had never seen Uncle V this angry before, he was worried he had done something wrong.

"Vernon, look!" Petunia said sharply. "You're scaring the boys!" This caused Vernon to calm down quite a bit and began apologizing profusely.

"Listen, boys, I am sorry I lost my temper like that. I just care so much for you two that anything that puts you in danger sets me off, I.. I just don't know what to say, I am sorry, I hope you know I am not mad at you Harry, I am mad at that headmaster of yours." He said taking a deep breath. "Now I do want to know, what in blazes made you think that running off after danger like that was a good idea?" He said pointing a hard look at Harry.

"I..I... I just wanted to help, and.. And I thought that I could handle it." Harry said softly.

"Harry dear." Petunia said quietly grabbing him in a tight hug. "You must understand that this sounds like an adult problem that was handled by a child, big problems like that are supposed to be taken care of by the people put in charge of protecting you. It sounds like everything worked out fine, but in the future," she said grabbing his chin and easing his face to look at hers. "In the future, you let the adults handle big stuff like that okay?"

"Okay.." Harry said sounding down.

"Now just because we say that Harry does not mean we are not proud of you," Vernon said. "It took a lot of guts to do something like that." He said with a smile walking over to Harry and putting his hand on his shoulder. "But Petunia is right, these things should be handled by an adult."

"Now whats this about the invitation?" Petunia said standing up.

"Well I think it's to thank Hermione and me for our help in saving Daphne," Harry said with a shrug.

"Well, I'll give the Grangers a call and see if they received one as well." With that Vernon went into the living room to make the call. After a few minutes, he returned, "So they got the invite too. Looks like it's two days from now, and it's formal-wear. Sounds like we are heading to town today to get everyone all dressed up!" He said with a smile. "And I have a special treat for you boys on the way there, one of my favorite Albums. Rush 2112!"

Petunia smiled, she knew this day would come.

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A.N. Thank you all again for your continued support, I wanted to get this chapter out there because I wanted to give you guys an update, a little build up, and something to look forward to. Return to Hogwarts will be at the end of the next chapter.

Warning...Dark roads are ahead.


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